smitty wrote:Werth really isn't a AAAA type. He is a pretty good big league player whose career was stalled by a wrist problem. It looks like there's a good chance he's back on track.

TJ Bohn is a AAAA player. He doesn't have nearly the chance of putting up a good season as Werth does. He's not nearly as good. Bohn can be a decent 5th outfielder type. Werth can start for you and play all three OF positions and help you. If you have Bohn out there getting 350 at bats or more he is going to hurt your production I think.

Snelling is a big league hitter if he can stay healthy. But you don't want to be in a position to have to count on him. He just can't stay healthy. If you're lucky he can give you a good year if he does happen to be uninjured for a year.

You can take a chance on a AAAA guy if you don't have any other good options. I mean if you were going to go into a season with Angel Pagan or someone like that holding down a key outfield spot then, yeah, take a look at Ben Johnson or someone.

But Werth is a good option. He can give you 350-400 ABs and give you some good production. And he's pretty good defensively to boot. AAAA guys aren't really like that. Either they won't hit quite enough (like a Langerhans or they have some glove problems or both. Guys like Restovich and Watson are AAAA players. Not Werth in my view.

According to the Basic Agreement, an arbitrator is supposed to consider several things when deciding upon a case. Most importantly, he/she is directed to consider:

-The player's contribution to his team
-His previous salary
-The salaries of players in a similar class

The last two points are extremely important -- in arbitration, players are not all equal. When making a case for a player, the arbitrators are instructed to consider only the salaries of players with the same amount of major league experience, or one year more.

Here is the exact wording from the current Basic Agreement regarding this point:

The arbitration panel shall, except for a Player with five or more years of Major League service, give particular attention, for comparative salary purposes, to the contracts of Players with Major League service not exceeding one annual service group above the Player's annual service group. This shall not limit the ability of a Player or his representative, because of special accomplishment, to argue the equal relevance of salaries of Players without regard to service, and the arbitration panel shall give whatever weight to such argument as is deemed appropriate.

Uncle Milty wrote:

Laexile wrote:Arbitration awards are based on what the player did the previous season.

Absolutely false.

Arbitration awards are not based solely on previous season performance. I forget the exact language but length of career, consistency, salary history, health, leadership and even fan appeal are factored.

seke2 wrote:i guess i really just don't like werth and i honestly expect him to put up numbers a LOT closer to his career averages this year than what we saw last year