USA Today provides a list of players eligible for arbitration this winter, noting by team who settled and who didn’t. Houston is the most interesting team:

HOUSTON — RHP Mike Fiers (arbitration), 1B Marwin Gonzalez (arbitration), RHP Will Harris (arbitration), LHP Dallas Keuchel ($9.15 million), OF Jake Marisnick ($1.1 million), RHP Collin McHugh (arbitration), OF George Springer ($3.9 million).

That’s four players going to arbitration, which is surprising. Arbitration carries costs. People on both sides have to prepare cases, and players are forced to hear about their flaws in the hearing. They find out that the team doesn’t love them as much as they expected.

On the other hand, the best deals are usually ones made under a time constraint. The Astros (or the players) may feel that settling at the last minute provides them with the most cost savings. We’ll see how many of these actually go to a hearing.