Lest Ye Be Judged

Michael Cox

Friday marked the final day for arbitration filing, a time fraught with frustration for teams and players alike, as evidenced by the flurry of signings at the wire. Of course, as in every area of the Basic Agreement, the players generally make out like bandits in the end, but for those who go through the actual arbitration process it's not without a cost.

I'd gamble that for most players the arbitration hearing is the first (and probably only) time when they hear their employer actually tally up their failings. Sure, it sometimes comes up during contract negotiations, but usually then it's through the player's agent, and surely you don't expect Rey Ordonez' agent to convey to his client the precise depths of his offensive ineptitude. If he gets to an arbitration hearing, however, it'll all hang out, and the bad blood begins.

Maybe the problem is that it should happen more often. We often play the game of relating a baseball player's job to our own. When Randy Johnson was pouting because of his shabby treatment at the hands of Woody Woodward, people would say, "if you're a contractor, you don't walk around the halls of your job complaining about the boss because your contract is almost up." Actually, I know a lot of contractors who complain plenty, but that's for another day.

Getting back to my analogy, in the world of Real Work, you generally are subjected to periodic performance reviews, and unless you have the most benevolent of managers, all your failings are written in black and white for purposes of: 1) Helping you better yourself; and 2) To determine the amount of your pay increases (or lack thereof). Then you're required to sign it, as if to say, "I agree that my people skills bite."

Unless he's having a noticeable slump, defensive "yips," can't find the strike zone to save his life, or actually (in rare cases) wants to know, a player generally doesn't get an honest, in-his-face accounting, much less a stark document requiring him to add, "I, Glenallen Hill, hereby attest that my fielding is so bad that glove manufacturers offer to pay me not to use their products."

In fact, so many players walk around displaying chest-thumping pride over skills they do not actually have that it couldn't hurt anyone involved to perform a regular review so that said players might actually work to improve themselves, or better yet, retire when it's actually time instead of several years later (paging Mr. Carter...).

And then, when arbitration comes around, a good player can come to the hearing prepared. If, for example, Jose Canseco led MLB in strikeouts last year, he can go out and get a radial keratotomy in hopes of improving. It would help players (except for the really bad ones, who it would depress), teams, and ultimately we the fans.

Players who filed for arbitration:

(Teams can continue to negotiate deals with these players right up until the hearings)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Angels - Mark Petkovsek, RHP; Steve Sparks, RHP.

Athletics - T.J. Mathews, RHP.

Blue Jays - Carlos Delgado, 1B; Alex Gonzalez, SS.

Devil Rays - Quinton McCracken, OF; Terrell Wade, LHP.

Indians - Ron Villone, LHP.

Mariners - Butch Huskey, OF.

Orioles - Charles Johnson, C.

Rangers - Tim Crabtree, RHP; Rick Helling, RHP; Aaron Sele, RHP; Lee Stevens, 1B; Gregg Zaun, C.

Red Sox - Damon Buford, OF; Midre Cummings, OF; John Wasdin, RHP.

Royals - Johnny Damon, OF.

Tigers - Bryce Florie, RHP; Brian Hunter, OF.

Twins - Matt Lawton, OF; Mike Trombley, RHP.

White Sox - James Baldwin, RHP; Ray Durham, 2B; Bill Simas, RHP.

Yankees - Derek Jeter, SS; Andy Pettitte, LHP; Mariano Rivera, RHP.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Astros - Sean Bergman, RHP; Carl Everett, OF; Ricky Gutierrez, SS; Jose Lima, RHP; Jay Powell, RHP; Billy Wagner, LHP.

Braves - none.

Brewers - Mark Loretta, 2B.

Cardinals - Ricky Bottalico; RHP; Darren Oliver, LHP; Edgar Renteria, SS.

Cubs - Terry Adams, RHP; Jose Hernandez, 3B; Tyler Houston, C; Matt Karchner, RHP.

Diamondbacks - Omar Daal, LHP.

Dodgers - Darren Dreifort, RHP; Mark Grudzielanek, SS.

Expos - Shane Andrews, 3B; Dustin Hermanson, RHP.

Giants - none.

Marlins - Cliff Floyd, OF.

Mets - Edgardo Alfonzo, 3B; Armando Benitez, RHP; Jason Isringhausen, RHP; Hideo Nomo, RHP; Rey Ordonez, SS; Turk Wendell, RHP.

Padres - Sterling Hitchcock, LHP; Dan Miceli, RHP.

Pirates - none.

Phillies - Kevin Jordan, 2B; Paul Spoljaric, LHP.

Reds - John Hudek, RHP; Michael Tucker, OF.

Rockies - none.

about the author

Michael Cox just bought a large amount of new RAM for his home computer, but looks forward to disconnecting his dozens of peripherals about as much as the Marlins look forward to playing in Atlanta.