The VERY short (barebones) version of baseball arbitration EXPLAINED. Baseball arbitration is often messy, and leads to nasty divorces between players and clubs. Baseball arbitration is different than football and basketball because in baseball, players are under team control for much longer than other sports. Rookie contracts in baseball are six years which means on average, MLB players don’t reach free agency until their early 30s. After their third MLB season, players can negotiate with their own club or decide to go to arbitration. Arbitration is cut throat. The player presents why they believe they are worth a salary and the club presents why they are worth a different (lower) salary. The arbitrator panel decides who wins and that’s the number for the year. I remember Derek Jeter explaining his arbitration process with the Yankees and how it scared (and almost broke) the legendary relationship. This is why a lot of players and clubs try to avoid arbitration and get deals done before the action is needed.
Follow the @blackbaseballmixtape for more. FYI: There is a Black baseball arbitration tracker in our discord group.
