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Twenty Three MLB Players Receive Offers Of Arbitration

The deadline to file for free agency in the MLB was November 19.  At that point, 171 players had filed.  Teams had until midnight last night to offer arbitration to the players who had filed for free agency and most recently played a professional season for that particular team.  Out of the 171 players who filed for free agency, only 23 of them were offered arbitration by the deadline.  Now, those 23 players will have until midnight on December 7 (Monday) to accept the offer of arbitration or decline it and enter the free agent market.  Just because a player accepts arbitration does not mean that he will necessarily make it all the way to an arbitration hearing.  In fact, the hearings are quite rare.  Most players and teams who accept arbitration actually come to a deal before it ever gets to a formal hearing.  This avoids the cost of preparing for arbitration and the uncomfortable setting the hearing produces (players do not want to hear about all of their flaws…they’re invincible, right?).  It also prevents an “un-biased” third-party arbitrator from picking one figure presented.  Baseball uses a system called Final Offer Arbitration, which means that the arbitrator must pick either the offer submitted by the team or the offer submitted by the player.  There is no room to make a judgment somewhere in the middle.

In 2008, 24 players were offered arbitration.  This year’s landscape is quite similar, with 23 players receiving offers.  10 of the players are Type A free agents and 13 are Type B.

Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse describes what the Type distinctions mean in a succinct manner.

If a team signs a Type A free agent, its first-round pick goes to the former team — unless that pick is in the top 15, in which case a second-round pick goes to the former team. The former team also gets an extra pick between the first and second rounds.

If a team loses a Type B free agent, it gets an extra “sandwich” pick.

One more thing to add: The team that signs a Type B free agent does not lose a pick, whereas if that same team signed a Type A free agent, the team would lose a pick as stated above.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

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