With no potential deal in sight, the Milwaukee Brewers and right-handed pitcher Shaun Marcum are getting closer to an arbitration hearing, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.  Marcum’s agent, Rex Gary, and Brewers’ senior director of operations, Teddy Werner, have not been able to reach an agreement on a 2011 contract.

“We’ve been working very hard in the event we’re in a position of arguing the case in front of a panel of arbitrators,” Werner said. “But I have learned that in a lot of these cases you have to let the process play out. In 2008, I think we settled with J.J. Hardy only 24 hours before a hearing was scheduled. In 2009 with Corey Hart, we settled about a day before. Then last year, we went to a hearing with Corey.”

The sides are believed to be scheduled for an arbitration hearing this Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona and it’s possible that Marcum could use Francisco Liriano’s $4.3 million one-year deal to persuade a deal in his favor.

“Liriano is definitely relevant to the Marcum discussions,” said Brewers senior director of business operations Teddy Werner (via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy).

Marcum is asking for $5 million while the Brewers countered with $3 million.

Both Liriano and Marcum have roughly the same amount of Major League service time (four-years, 104 days for Liriano and four-years, 128 days for Marcum) and both bothers had similar statistics in 2010.  Liriano was 14-10 witha  3.62 ERA while Marcum was 13-8 with a 3.64 ERA.

McCalvy notes that Liriano had a higher salary at $1.4 million in 2010 while Marcum took home $850,000 and Liriano took home the AL Comeback Player of the Year – both factors could have played in the pitcher’s favor had the Twins and Liriano gone to a hearing.

If the sides go in front of an arbitration, it’s an all or nothing situation where the ruler will decide to pay Marcum $5 million or $3 million, so it’s to both parties best interest to settle before taking their chances in front of a third-party.