Arbiwhat?

One confusing aspect of baseball can be the specifics of contract negotiation. The reason the Randy Johnson Yankees to Diamondbacks trade took so long was because of the many legal specifics in the contract. Official talks began 12-26-06 and official announcements of a successful trade were announced 1/09/07.

The big buzz in the sticks right now is arbitration. I had no idea what it meant and the two seconds I spent searching www.wikidpedia.org yielded nothing.

I fought through the anger and disapointment and went to Google to tell me. If you hate thinking about the specific salaries of overpaid athletes, this would the time to stop reading. If you hate overpriced salaries but enjoy tempering those feelings with that certain honed-in kind of hate, well read right the hell on.

Arbitration, simply put, is a reassessment of the player's current contract compared with the current market value. Consider this fictional account; you're a starting pitcher two years into a four year, 1.7 million dollar deal. Last season you posted a 3.20 ERA. Pitchers with similar ERA's (an infielder would be judged on fielding percentage, batting average, etc.) entering new contracts would be setting a standard. They would look at the current average salary per year, let's say it's 6 million a year, and allow for a readjustment.

Some people hate arbitration because of the pay me more attitude, but to counter this, clubs will enter into contracts that go long enough (four years I believe) that arbitration isn't included in the terms. I guess a good way to look at it is it's a good way to 1) get younger players and clubs to commit a bit and 2) help younger players who've proved themselves get a comparable salary 3) it prompts early contract negotiations between the player and the clubhouse.

It's not hard for clubs to avoid, even if the club doesn't want to throw a four year dear on the table. The Dbacks, who are awsome, have made a great move to avoid arbitration and signed their closer Jose Valverde to another year by giving him a raise.