With Arbitration Figure Exchange Day coming soon (Friday), some trade deals could be expected this week. But then there’s still more than a few elephants in the room.
The Atlanta Braves have 7 remaining arbitration-eligible players that have yet to come to terms on contract details for the 2019 season:
- Kevin Gausman (3rd year of 4)
- Arodys Vizcaino (4th and final)
- Mike Foltynewicz (2nd of 4)
- Adam Duvall (1st of 3)
- Sam Freeman (2nd of 3)
- Daniel Winkler (2nd of 3)
- Charlie Culberson (1st)
General reminders on the process:
- Friday is arbitration figure exchange deadline day
- All players typically negotiate with their teams to reach an agreement on contract terms for 2019 (at least)
- If no agreement can be reached after negotiations, each side will submit to MLB the dollar figure that they are willing to argue for in an arbitration trial
- The Braves are a “file and trial” club: once figures are exchanged, negotiations end
- MLBTradeRumors.com has the best estimation tool for arbitration projections
It’s not a big thing, but you could see a couple of trades deals happen before Friday. This happens when teams choose to avoid the process of this week for players they were expecting to trade anyway. In this way, they effectively pass the baton to a new club.
If an arbitration-eligible player is traded after Friday, the new club also inherits whatever is done this week, including the need to go to trial if necessary (though often, even a file-and-trial team will choose to do a quick chat in an effort to reach an agreement and establish a nice relationship with their new player).
A couple of other topics for the day follow…