The Associated Press obtained the arbitration decision concerning Kris Bryant’s service time, and if the Cubs manipulated his call up to give them seven years of control instead of six. The arbitrator left no room for quibbles. Here is one example, based on Theo Epstein’s philosophy of player development:

“He had a philosophy of player development that he had followed at that point for 14 years as the person in ultimate control of baseball operations at two big-market baseball clubs,” the decision said. “The association was not able to produce a single example before or since of a first-year minor league player whom Epstein brought up in September or of a true rookie who started the season on the 25-player roster. The association is correct that Bryant’s minor league and spring training numbers were exceptional, even unprecedented, but it cannot be said that consistent adherence to a philosophy that had proven successful is evidence of bad faith motivation.”

Chron.com

Note that the arbitrator also said that “this decision does not address, the global issue of whether clubs have the right to manage service time to delay a player’s achievement of the service benchmarks for salary arbitration and free agent eligibility.” In other words, the union has the right to keep bringing these cases. More likely, they will try to change the Collective Bargaining Agreement to stop this type of manipulation.