The New York Mets offered salary arbitration to Oliver Perez on Monday. This guaranteed the Mets 2 draft picks should Perez sign elsewhere. The Mets did not offer arbitration to Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, Damion Easley, Luis Ayala, Tony Armas Jr., Orlando Hernandez, Ramon Martinez, Trot Nixon, Ricardo Rincon and Matt Wise. Ayala is the only player on the list that may be expected back.
the Philadelphia Phillies refused to offer salary arbitration to any of the four players eligible. While there was no surprise about Rudy Seanez and Tom Gordon, Pat Burrell is some what of a surprise and Jamie Moyer was a big surprise.
There is no way to sugar coat this, the Phillies are being cheap and were afraid if these players accepted arbitration they would earn a raise from last season that they would prefer not to pay. This is Ruben Amaro's first mistake as general manager. You can argue a bit with me about Burrell with valid points, but there is no argument about Jamie Moyer. Burrell could earn $16 million in arbitration with Moyer possibly fetching $10 million. $16 million would be a bit high for Burrell but with no other viable options on the free agent market, supply and demand may dictate. The team would also not want to pay Moyer $10 million but it would give them the flexibility not to commit more than one year to a 46 year old pitcher. Sounds like a fair trade off to me.
To make matters worse, Raul Ibanez, Derek Lowe, and A.J. Burnett were all offered arbitration so the Phillies are even less likely to sign any of these players because they will not want to forfeit their draft picks. Poor planning here is taking the top free agents out the Phillies potential plans and limiting them to trying to resign Burrell and Moyer or going with "B" type players.
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