The Fix

Ken Rosenthal suggests a fix to what he calls a broken arbitration system:

One team executive made the point Saturday that clubs develop statistical models for everything they can think of, projecting what players might accomplish, projecting what might teams might achieve, and more. So, why not develop a model to determine salaries for arbitration-eligible players, too?

The union and management could jointly determine the proper statistics to evaluate each position, adjusting the formulas perhaps every five years to account for how the game evolves (not long ago, remember, teams placed greater value on one-dimensional power hitters, less on elite setup men.)

Once again, a pundit ignores the better solution, free agency after three years. When the six year free agency period was put in place, there was a much smaller difference between the minimum salary and what a free agent could earn for a one WAR season. So there was some justification for teams needing six years to recoup their investment in training players through the minor leagues. Now, when a team saves $7 million dollars by getting one WAR from a league minimum player, that length of time under team control makes less sense.

The sooner players reach free agency, the sooner they make the money they deserve. With more free agents on the market, prices won’t grow too quickly. Also, teams are much more likely to sign youngsters to long term contracts early. Everyone benefits.

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