Salary arbitration is a term you hear every year, but very few tend to understand what it is.  In a broad sense, it’s a player’s right to be compensated more accordingly based on his ability, leadership and performance. In the event that the player and the club do not see eye-to-eye, the case goes in front of a three person arbitration panel where  they will review the dispute and settle the salary based on the statistics of the player. According to MLB.com, since 1974, and including 2006, arbitrators have ruled on behalf of the players 199 times and clubs 269 times so it’s in the player’s best interest to negotiate a deal before going to arbitration

All players with at least 3 years of Major League service time but less than 6 years are eligible for arbitration.  Some teams understand the worth and sign these players to a long-term deal such as the Cleveland Indians phenom C.C. Sabathia’s deal in 2002 (four-years, $9.5 million).  This deal will provide the security for the player early in their career, but also give the club a great value compared to getting a similarly productive player but with more service time.  Unfortunately, some players either are not given that luxury of a long-term deal, or they want to go year-to-year and hope for a big money contract after their sixth year of service.  Those that are eligible for arbitration file by mid-January every year (in this case it’s January 14, 2011), and those that do not settle will go in front of the arbitration panel.  The panel will look over each side and make a choice of the salary expected by the player or the salary submitted by the club.

Not all players require three-years of service time.  There’s a special group of individuals that qualify for arbitration a year early and they are known as Super Two’s.  This is a group of the top 17% of players (in ML service time) with at least 2 years of service, but less than three year. If the player was fortunate to have a solid start to his career, he can be paid accordingly, as opposed to taking home just the Major League minimum.

Players can also use the Super Two status as leverage to lock in a long-term deal sooner which is what Jay Bruce did in December.  Rather than take home the minimum, he secured a six-year contract extension plus a seventh-year option that could net him $60+ million.

For this winter, those with two-years and 122 days of service time qualify for Super Two status.  This is down from the 2009 requirement of two-years and 139 days.

For the PRO Rumors 2011 Arbitration Tracker, you can go here.

For a list of player’s that filed for salary arbitration during the winter of 2010-2011, you can go here.

For a list of player that qualified as Super Two players, you can go here.