Atlanta Braves' 2017 Salary Arbitration Estimates
One of the best things that the MLB Trade Rumors site does each year is to publish their estimates on salary arbitration figures. Today that list is out, with the names of 7 Atlanta Braves included.
The Atlanta Braves will have a December 2nd deadline to offer 2017 contracts to their controllable 40-man roster players, and those in the salary arbitration cycle will be of particular interest. 3 days afterwards, the Winter Meetings begin in Washington, D.C. – the prime time for off-season wheeling and dealing.
The Braves will have a few decision points to make in the run-up to that December 2nd deadline regarding some of their controllable players, and that’s where the MLBTR’s Salary Arbitration model comes into play today.
Their Matt Swartz has come up with a mathematical model based on service time and player performance rankings that attempts to guess what the salary number each arb-eligible player should be when they sign. While these numbers are recognized as the most-often-cited salary indicators in the industry, each team and player are still at liberty to negotiate their own contract terms, should they opt to avoid the pain of the arbitration process.
You can read about some of the trials and tribulations from Matt’s efforts to create this model here.
More from Tomahawk Take
Here is the list of Atlanta Braves from MLBTR’s latest run:
Numbers in parentheses indicate the amount of major league service time accrued in years and days.
Note: *Both Ian Krol and Ender Inciarte will become Super-2 eligible players, with their 2 years++ of service time:
Both players have exceeded that 2 years, 131 days period so they will be rewarded with an early arbitration opportunity: a ‘4th’ year in the pipe.
About the List
There are at least a couple of names that should be slam-dunks to be tendered contracts by the Atlanta Braves (and thus offered arbitration): the aformentioned Ender Inciarte and Ian Krol. Beyond that, you could make a case for cutting loose any of the rest:
@BravesOptions @carpengui went on a cruise Paco's dad happened to be on. He's progressing well apparently. Dad was a great guy.
— Michael Simmons (@MiSim_) October 10, 2016
The Braves would know this information as they’ve had a chance to monitor Rodriguez through his entire rehab. $900K (+/-) isn’t a huge gamble if they believe he can be useful to the team, but he will face an uphill battle for a position. This is another difficult call that could come down to the need for a 40-man roster position. BET: non-tender with hope to re-sign on a minor league deal.
Based on these figures and the assumption that all players currently under control will remain on the major league roster, my projected Opening Day 2017 payroll for the Atlanta Braves now stands at $74,110,000… but expect substantial changes to that – both in that figure and in the personnel behind it – as the off-season progresses.
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