Instead of settling prior to an actual arbitration hearing, the Florida Marlins and Miguel Cabrera decided to duke it out in the first final-offer arbitration case won by a player in the 2007 MLB offseason [Cabrera’s arbitration win is first for player this year].
The Marlins offered Cabrera $6.7 million, but Cabrera and his agent (Fernando Cuza) were awarded their offer of $7.4 million. Prior to Cabrera’s victory, the players had been 0-4 in winning arbitration hearings during the 2007 off-season.
In a post made almost exactly a year ago I looked specifically at arbitration in Major League Baseball [The Arbitration Battle: Advantage – Team]. The observations that I made last year seem to be on course again this year. When an arbitration case is actually heard, owners have an advantage (they are 4-1 so far this year). There are also a lot of negative consequences that may come along with following through with a hearing instead of settling before-hand [Arbitration…good or bad?].
As a baseball agent, arbitration is a huge facet of representing your clients. This is an area that should continued to be studied. There are a few upcoming hearings that I will keep you all updated on.
-Darren Heitner
One reply on “‘Tis Arbitration Season”
[…] On February 18th, I recognized that it is arbitration season with a post about Miguel Cabrera’s victory for the players against the owners after they had gone 0-4 thus far in actual hearings [‘Tis Arbitration Season]. More importantly for this post, I referenced an article I wrote a year ago titled: Arbitration…good or bad? Hey agents, let’s start remembering our fiduciary duty to our clients, which includes caring about our clients’ psyches. […]