Baseball’s arbitration deadline is tomorrow, and several teams still have decisions to make.
A Type-A free agent who is offered arbitration and signs with a new team nets his former team a first-round draft pick and a supplemental draft pick. A Type-B free agent is worth a second-round draft pick and a supplemental pick. But there’s always the risk that a player will accept arbitration and be paid more than his worth to stay with his current team.
So do teams offer these free agents arbitration and hope that they’ll decline and sign elsewhere? Or do they withhold arbitration and abandon any chance of recouping draft picks?
Here’s a look at the 15 free agents most likely not to receive arbitration and why.