Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:16 pm
I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I am quite enjoying this free agency signing period. It's easy to get caught up in the bidding for emerging stars like Swanson, Arozarena, Tucker, and May, but I wanted to remind you all that you need to save salary cap space for your arbitration decisions as well. Here is the arbitration rule as a reminder:
Section 9.11 ARBITRATION: A player with an expiring contract who has more than 3 years and up to 6 years of service time qualifies for arbitration if the owner declines to release the player, offer a contract extension, or to renew the player at the Major League Minimum Salary. If the owner chooses arbitration the player will be renewed at the salary established for his SOMO card price for the following season. If the player does not have a SOM card to settle the arbitration decision, the player is awarded the league minimum salary based on years of service (i.e. $2 mil for arb1, $3 mil for arb 2, etc). The owner must decline to offer a contract extension prior to the release of the SOM card set for the upcoming season or the player will be automatically renewed for one year at their qualified major league minimum salary as determined in Sections 9.05 and 9.06 above.
Unfortunately this means I am on the hook for $4 million for Joe Ross despite the fact that he didn't play this year. COVID really screwed me on that one. If you have a player on your cut list who is up for arbitration, and who did not play in 2020, I have taken the liberty of entering his arb contract into the spreadsheet in order to limit your chances of going over budget during the FA signing period.
If you have a player on your roster who is up for arbitration and who did not play in 2020, let me know and I will settle his contract now to minimize your risk of going over budget as well.
sociophil