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Salary Arbitration Update - Tomorrow Could Produce the First Hearing

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

Tomorrow could produce the first hearing of the 2008 salary arbitration hearing. The Yankees do not want to offer Chien-Ming Wang a long-term deal. That is apparently what Wang and his agent are seeking. The position of the Yankees is that pitchers are too risky at this stage of their career because of the potential for arm injuries. This case is interesting because the two sides are "just" $600,000 apart ($4 m for the Yankees, $4.6 m for Wang). That makes the midpoint $4.3 m. Last year, Wang made $489,500.

Predicting the outcome of these hearings is risky business. However, just for fun, I will provide my educated prediction. I think that two back-to-back 19-win seasons coupled with 218 and 199 1/3 innings pitched outweigh Wang's post-season problems against the Indians. If this one does not settle, I think the Yankees lose this hearing.

According to my research, nine deals have been concluded since my last post. Staying with the strong trend for this year, six of the nine were below the midpoint. Here is the list:

Garrett Atkins, Rockies, At Midpoint
Eric Bruntlett, Phillies, Below
Daniel Cabrera, Orioles, Below
Ryan Church, Mets, Below
Kevin Correia, Giants, At Midpoint
Khalil Greene, Padres, Multiyear Deal
Zack Greinke, Royals, Below
Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox, Below
Mark Teahen, Royals, Below

35 of the 48 players and teams who exchanged numbers have settled. Here is the current tally:

Multiyear deals - 9
Above the midpoint - 1
At the midpoint - 6
Below the midpoint - 19

There are 13 remaining unsigned players. The Rockies and Astros each have two. The Astros have already decided that they are going to hearings with Loretta and Valverde. My thoughts right now are that Loretta will win, and Valverde will lose. Here is the complete list of unsigned players:

Rockies - Brian Fuentes and Brad Hawpe
Mets - Oliver Perez
Angels of Anaheim - Francisco Rodriguez
Astros - Mark Loretta and Jose Valverde
Brewers - J.J. Hardy
Mariners - Erik Bedard
Nationals - Felipe Lopez
Padres - Josh Bard
Phillies - Ryan Howard
Reds - Brandon Phillips
Yankees - Chien-Ming Wang

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).