Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 02, 2007
Good-bye, Andruw

David O'Brien looks at the reasons the Braves declined to offer arbitration to Andruw Jones:

Maybe if Andruw were a Class A free agent, it'd be a slightly better gamble in the Braves' eyes. At least then they'd get a first-round draft pick from the team that signed him, plus a sandwich pick.

But as a Class B guy, they'd only get a sandwich pick from a team. And if Andruw decided to accept arbitration, come back and play for $15-16 mill next season in hopes of reestablishing his free-agent value, the Braves would have to make a couple of other moves involving high-salaried players in order to fit him in.

Remember the Kevin Millwood trade they felt compelled to make at the last minute after the Maddux arbitration decision? That worked out OK for the Braves, since Johnny Estrade surpassed expectations. But when it was made, it was a very good starting pitcher being traded for a Triple-A catcher.

And there was one other thing about Andruw: He's a 10-and-5 guy. If he wasn't, the Braves could have offered him arbitration at much less risk, because if he'd accepted they could have traded him to San Diego or Los Angeles or another team interested in Andruw, and let that team work out a contract with him.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:59 AM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)
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