There Is No Cryihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifng In Baseball: A Closer Look At Salary Arbitration

Just like any other company, Major League Baseball is a business. The only difference is rather than dealing with thousands, we are constantly dealing with millions. How would one feel if during a review the boss pointed out every flaw, just so he or she would not have to pay you a certain salary that you felt you deserved? Welcome to the big leagues. During their third through sixth years in the league, players or clubs are allowed to submit a dispute over a players earnings. Once this dispute has been placed, the player and team have begun the process of "Salary Arbitration". The way that is works is the player and team executives will both submit a salary that each believes the player should earn, to a panel of three impartial arbitrators. The team executives and their lawyer will then engage in a gruesome process against the player's agent and lawyer that somewhat resembles a trial. Each side will make their case based on previous seasons statistics that go into every detail possible. Management will not hesitate to point out any and every flaw committed by the athlete. It is then left up to the impartial arbitrators to choose one salary that they believe is the "fairer" of the two options. Salary Arbitration involves no compromising between the player and the team. By doing this, the team executives and players are prevented from going either too high or too low with their offer. Most of the time the team and players will settle on a long term contract before they actually have to go through the ugly process. Doing this helps preserve a solid relationship, without battling one another. However, sometimes the teams are just unable to agree.

There is a long history behind the creation of Salary Arbitration, and many people who are responsible for its beginning. However, I do not wish to merely explain it, but instead to understand its concept. Is "Final Offer Arbitration" the best solution? Isn't it possible that holding an appearance between the executives and players bashing one another could be damaging to future relations? The answer is yes, but in my opinion salary arbitration is still the most viable option. Of course settling on a long term contract before arbitration is necessary is the best route to take. Most of the time this is case, but like I said before it is not always easy to agree. The reason that I feel salary arbitration is the best option, lies with the impartial judge. So many times you will see absurdly large contracts given to players who just are not performing. The best example I can give is Andruw Jones of the Dodgers. He is making $18 million a year and hardly ever played. The simple fact that there is no compromise in arbitration, really gives control to the players. It is a fair process. Most of the time when a case is taken to final offer arbitration, the ending result is fair. Both sides will honestly put what they feel is the proper amount to pay that player.

The most useful of example of salary arbitrations legitimacy is the recent case of Ryan Howard. Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies are currently one game away from winning the World Series, and Howard who has turned it on late is the favorite for series MVP. In 2006 Howard won the league MVP award. He belted 58 home runs, had 149 RBI's and still hit with an impressive .313 batting average. In that incredible season, only Howard's second year in the league, he earned $355,000. The following season he put up huge numbers once again, and received in compensation just $900,000. Finally, after serving three years of service, Howard was arbitration eligible. After being unable to settle on a long term deal, the process was taken to final offer arbitration. The Phillies offered $7 million and Howard desired $10 million. After 5 hours of listening to each sides case, the impartial arbitrators ruled in favor of Howard. The way I look at it is pay back for the service he provided the previous two years. While he was out producing huge numbers, there were players sitting on the bench making 20 times more than him. It only made sense that he is compensated fully now. Apparently Howard is worth it because he has led to Phillies to within one game of the World Series title, and will possibly be receiving his second MVP award in the last 4 years. After the contract was settled Assistant General Manager of the Phillies Ruben Amaro Jr. explained " I'm sure he's very pleased...This negotiation has been very amicable and very professional. It's just part of the process".

The players and management both know that baseball is a business, and this is just part of it. Although there is a chance that someone gets there feelings hurt, neither side tries to take it personally. Salary Arbitration is a very important aspect to the business of baseball. It helps the athletes earn the money they deserve, rather than let is all go to the older washed up players. Ryan Howard's $10 million victory in arbitration tied Alfonso Soriano for the most ever earned in arbitration. The difference is that Howard won his trial, Soriano wanted $12 million. I think that over time this process have proven to be fair and is essential to the functionality of baseball.

Keeping Up: Baseball's Leading Online News Sources

This week, I added an additional 20 websites and blogs to my linkroll (right). Each one provides an excellent source of up to date information regarding current issues in Major League Baseball. Using the Webby Awards and IMSA judging criteria, I was able to compile a concise list of well written blogs and online news sources that pertain to my current and future posts. These links can all be found in my linkroll, but I will also critique each one in this post. My first link, 150 Top Baseball Blogs, is ultimately very useful, however, it can pose several problems because of how broad of a website it is. The purpose of this site is to compile the top 150 best blogs that are current and up to date regarding all aspects of baseball. The benefit is that the blogs posted on this website are all kept up with current news. Sometimes you can find blogs online that have posts from several months ago, and have not been updated. Like I said though, the website is very broad and it can be difficult to find specific information. Overall it proves to be a good source for finding scattered opinions around the internet. My next website is the Baseball Almanac. Clearly this is very relevant to my topic because I am constantly bringing up historical facts in my posts. The Baseball Almanac is undoubtedly the most accurate way to go when referring to historical baseball numbers. Some of the flaws with this website have to do with the design. The way that this page is organized makes it difficult to quickly access anything you are looking for. The home page is full of numbers and information making it slightly confusing from the beginning. A much superior website in my opinion is "Baseball-Reference". The idea of this page is the same as the baseball almanac. It is a website designed to help find any information about baseball. The difference between the two pages is the design. I feel that the design of this page is far less intimidating. It also offers a friendly search box in the upper left corner, which could make researching a lesser pain. Baseball.Com, is a very simple website that does exactly what you would expect it to. I enjoy this page because of the simplicity and easy usability.

The next group of websites that I added to my linkroll, are the basics that most people will immediately search, when looking for new info. One of the most popular, and my favorite website, is ESPN. I have directed my link straight to the baseball page, but ESPN is my favorite site for locating information on every sport. They are always accurate, and the page is designed nearly flawlessly. The most obvious of all choices when it comes to baseball, is MLB.Com. The most beneficial aspect of this website is the season pass. If you are willing to pay a set fee, you are able to watch live streaming video of the game of your choice online. Personally, I have used this feature many times, because at my apartment I have not subscribed to the major league package on television. It offers a cheaper option for following a team that you cannot watch on television. Fox Sports is well composed and offers a very user friendly site. The best part of this website is how clean and simple it is. The colors of the interface are plain and are not distracting like some of the other sites. I think well of how the page is broken up into several different segments, making it easy to decide where you are dragging the mouse. Another popular website around the country, is Sports Illustrated. Just like the magazine, Sports Illustrated offers current news, as well as superbly written articles by their senior writers. This site offers the thoughts of some of the most talented sports writers in the country, paving the way for an excellent and intellectual analysis. Yahoo Sports, is not one my favorites but seems rather popular. One of the things that this website does well is update live baseball games quickly. They offer a nice play by play for game situations, which is constantly being updated. However, Yahoo Sports is more popular for the fantasy world.

Online newspapers are often viewed for facts and opinions on current issues in baseball. The Los Angeles Times offers a very intuitive sports section that I check on a daily basis. Everyday you can find the opinions of several LA Times writers on the issues going on around the league, but mainly with the hometown Dodgers and Angels. This is the best place to go for in depth information on the Dodgers. Just like Los Angeles, the New York Times offers a very extensive sports section on their teams. The New York writers are possibly the most opinionated which makes for an excellent read when analyzing the New York Sports, especially baseball. The Palm Beach Post is my favorite online paper to keep up with. I'm a dedicated Florida Marlin fan, and I find that some of the best articles on the Marlins are written on the post. USA Today is a great online source for finding the most current information. Since it is not dedicated to any one city, the site does not dedicate nearly as much to a certain team. MLBAmerica is the most useful website for online papers. On the left hand side there are direct links to most online newspapers sports sections. This is great so you do not have to go through the home page of each newspaper, something that could eat up a great deal of time. Another relevant site is The Pro Baseball Newspaper Archive. This is a great page that will I will use in order to enhance my posts. With this website I can access historical newspaper articles and apply them to my blog. This is a very efficient site, and easily used with the search option at the top of the page.


The last additions to my linkroll are all based on my previous posts. First, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is beneficial for easy access on my linkroll. My first post on the Mitchell Report, is greatly going to affect the future of players being inducted into the hall of fame. I thought that it would be interesting to see who is already in and then compare some of these players statistics, with players who may get shafted due to the steroid scandal. Sportsology is a very cool blog that offers extremely creative and objective views. You can always retrieve a great article on some type of flaw in major league baseball. The 'Ropolitans, is a very extensive online blog about the New York Mets. My last blog post was on the Mets recent failure, so I thought this was great blog to see different fans reactions throughout the post season. The last link I posted is to a blog called MLBlogs. This blog is very unique in that along with fans blogging, it offers blogs from current and former major league players. It is especially interesting to follow the blogs of players who are on current playoff teams. Anyone can offer and opinion, but the players are the ones that really know what is taking place.