Now the offseason starts in earnest

November 30, 2008

Every year we see the same pattern on most major signings and trades.

Teams wait until they know what they they will have to give up for Type A Free Agents before making their big moves.

And they don't know that until after the Free Agents are either offered arbitration or allowed to leave without compensation.

Some teams will not offer arbitration on players they don't have in their future plans or that would be prohibitively expensive.

Others will be offered arbitration either in hopes of giving the team more time to negotiate a long term deal or to ensure they receive a 1st round draft pick and a sandwich pick as compensation if that player leaves in Free Agency.

A good example of a Type A free agent player that likely will not be offered arbitration is Trevor Hoffman.

As Tom Krasovic of the Union Tribune and Corey Brock of MLB.com have said, Hoffman would likely garner a larger salary in 2009 than either the $4 million he was offered or the $7.5 million he made in 2008 making him much to expensive for the salary cutting Padres.

Kerry Wood of the Cubs would be another player likely not to be offered arbitration. Wood would likely receive $9-10 million in arbitration and the Cubs have recently traded for closer Kevin Gregg, although Yahoo seems to disagree with just about every other media outlet on this matter.

Type A Free Agent players that are expected to be offered arbitration include those that are likely to sign high dollar value, long term contracts.

CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Edgar Renteria, Manny Ramirez, AJ Burnett and K Rod are just a few that are expected to receive an arbitration offer tomorrow.

After that, the fun begins and the hot stove begins to heat up.

Are you ready for some baseball?