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Non-Tendered Players Become Free Agents

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

On Friday December 12, all teams had a deadline to decide whether or not to tender a contract offer to a select number of their players. If the player was non-tendered by the deadline, that player was granted free agency. The vast majority of the players impacted by the deadline are eligible for salary arbitration. Teams can still negotiate with a player that was non-tendered an offer, but the player obviously has the right to negotiate with other teams as well. Typically, the issue is one involving the likely amount that the arbitration panel might award if the two sides cannot reach an agreement.

According to my research the following American League players were non-tendered by the deadline and became free agents:

John Bale (Kansas City Royals), Chris Britton (New York Yankees), Jaime Burke (Seattle Mariners), Daniel Cabrera (Baltimore Orioles), Kevin Cash (Boston Red Sox), Justin Christian (New York Yankees), Lance Cormier (Baltimore Orioles), Jairo Cuevas (Kansas City Royals), Joey Gathright (Kansas City Royals), Jonny Gomes (Tampa Bay Rays), Aquilino Lopez (Detroit Tigers), Doug Mathis (Texas Rangers), Jason Smith (Kansas City Royals).

According to my research the following National League players were non-tendered by the deadline and became free agents:

Reggie Abercrombie (Houston Astros), Mario Alvarez (Los Angeles Dodgers), Denny Bautista (Pittsburgh Pirates), Matt Belisle (Cincinnati Reds), Angel Berroa (Los Angeles Dodgers), Yhency Brazoban (Los Angeles Dodgers), Chris Burke (Arizona Diamondbacks), Chris Capuano (Milwaukee Brewers - who was signed to a minor league deal by the Brewers), Randy Flores (St. Louis Cardinals), Charlie Haeger (San Diego Padres), Robby Hammock (Arizona Diamondbacks), Clay Hensley (San Diego Padres), Norris Hopper (Cincinnati Reds - who was quickly signed by the Reds to a one-year deal), Chuck James (Atlanta Braves), Tyler Johnson (St. Louis Cardinals), Wil Ledezma (Arizona Diamondbacks), Gary Majewski (Cincinnati Reds), Scott Mathieson (Philadelphia Phillies - who was signed to a minor league deal by the Phillies), Aaron Miles (St. Louis Cardinals), Joe Nelson (Florida Marlins), Scott Proctor (Los Angeles Dodgers), Tim Redding (Washington Nationals), Takashi Saito (Los Angeles Dodgers), Jeff Salazar (Arizona Diamondbacks), Willy Taveras (Colorado Rockies), Ty Wigginton (Houston Astros).

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).