Talking Baseball

The arbitration deadline for Major League Baseball is just around the corner and many teams are weighing their options.

Free agents on the market that have yet to be signed by new teams or resigned by their old teams, must be offered arbitration by Monday night at midnight by their team if they want to receive draft picks if they sign elsewhere.

If a player accepts his team’s offer of arbitration then he will receive a one year deal worth a set amount of money.

If the player does not accept the offer of arbitration it doesn’t mean that that player and the team still can’t negotiate a contract.

Once a player has been offered arbitration, if he decides to sign elsewhere, the team that offered him arbitration will receive compensatory draft picks in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

If the player is a Type A free agent, the team that signs him will have to give his old team two first round draft picks.

If he is a Type B free agent, it will be a sandwich pick between the first two rounds.