2023 Arbitration Decisions

I hope Burnes does leave. That just helps the Cardinals.

It might help more if they extend him out until he’s 40 with a big hunk of their payroll.

I am really not concerned about the overall merits of the arbitration system nor am I really concerned about the Brewers or Burnes. I am, however, interested in how organizations make business decisions and this particular decision strikes me as curious. I find it strange to take such a confrontational approach with such a key player over such a small amount. It would seem to me that the Brewers have much bigger things to worry about than whether they pay Burnes an extra $740k. Their payroll is $114.7M. I hope it backfires for them.

Do you also find it strange that Burnes should take such a confrontational approach to such a small amount?

This could be just a case of Burnes having an initial vent, then all parties move forward with a good season and don’t look back. If that happens, then all he did was release some frustration of the moment. Nothing really terrible with that.

If, however, he carries a grudge all season and keeps kicking dirt, then I’ll consider him extremely delicate. Nothing strange about that. There are a lot of delicate types nowadays.

gscottar…Do you also find it strange that Burnes should take such a confrontational approach to such a small amount?

I would prefer that a player air his grievances privately to the club instead of publicly but I suppose he felt going public would paint the Brewers in a negative light, which thus far it has. We also don’t really know what was said in those hearings although some have reported that the Brewers blamed Burnes for them not making the playoffs. I don’t know how credible that claim is but if it did happen then shame on them.

My guess is that the Brewers didn’t want to budge off of their offer because they didn’t want to offend their fellow owners by offering “above slot”‘ money. If so, they are paying the price publicly by staying loyal to the other owners.

This isn’t the first time the Brewers have bungled things PR wise. Remember the Hader fiasco?

Fallout of Corbin Burnes’ arbitration hearing following troublesome pattern for Brewers https://t.co/s7OwiwoUua

— Brew Crew Ball (@BrewCrewBall) February 17, 2023

However, I’m simply lending the perspective of someone who isn’t a member of the nobility…I like to imagine that if someone laid $10.7 MM on a picnic table, I’d leave $700,000 as a gratuity and get the heck out of there…Haha!

Hear, hear to that.

Plus it’s not like the Brewers were nefarious or cheap as you hear it often described. They went through a negotiated, agreed upon process that the players have benefitted from by millions for decades. Win some, lose some. Players now can whine about not getting over market value? Did Burnes expect the Brewers to present his case for him and say nothing but great things about him? Boohoo.

gscottar, we are just going to have to disagree.

With no structure to define which situations teams are supposed to give in to the player’s salary request, there will be no rules at all. It will just lead to even more disagreements of opinion. That won’t fly unless you want owners to always give in to the players. It seems in that world, there will never be a hearing. So nobody’s feelings will be hurt.

Or if you are going to be selective, how do you decide who?

Is it based on how good the player is? How good is good enough to qualify?
Is it based on a dollar difference or percentage difference between the two offers? How much is enough to matter? How much is too much?
Is it based on the amount of time they have been negotiating?
It is based on the service time of the player?
Is it based on the market of the team or its payroll?
etc. etc. etc.

The whole purpose of the hearing is for both sides to prepare an assessment of the player’s value compared to other players. If there is no threat of a hearing, what will keep either side from making their offer too high (player) or too low (owner)?

My opinion is that the system in place today (agreed to by players and owners through multiple CBAs) works pretty well. There are good checks and balances built in to be fair.

But when you want exceptions to the rules, then what you really need is to change the rules, because the current system is not working the way you want it to.

Perhaps I am not making myself clear. I am saying that this situation could have been handled differently regardless of the arbitration system. Teams can pay whatever salary they want whenever they want (the Cardinals did this with DeJong). Assuming the lines of communication were open the Brewers probably would have know what Burnes was looking for. They could have announced they are signing him to a one or two year deal without going to arbitration.

As has been suggested, perhaps they figure Burnes is not in their long term plans due his future market value therefore they don’t care if he is miffed or not. (There are consequences to this approach)

Or as I mentioned above, perhaps the Brewers did not feel comfortable stretching the arbitration offer because it would cause a ripple effect with other teams.

Or maybe both issues are at play. I just don’t accept the suggestion that the team had absolutely no other choice but to do what they did because of the system.

I’d say so, Bling. If you don’t want me to shed any light on the downside, don’t mention anything about your CYA.

I suppose it could but it would be hard to prove, especially since the Brewers offer was well within the arbitration guidelines. I am sure both parties were bull headed and could have handled things differently but the reason I am more focused on the team instead of the player is because I like studying management decisions and how teams are built. It is the job of the front office to build the roster.

The more I think about it I would say it is likely that the Brewers already assume that Burnes won’t be with them past 2024 so they don’t care what happens between now and then. I just think there are some pitfalls with that approach.

Just looked and Corbin was the only arb case for the Brewers. Here is how that compares to other teams.

10 teams filed 0 cases
11 teams filed 1 case
5 teams filed 2 cases
1 team filed 3 cases
2 teams filed 4 cases
1 team filed 6 cases

Hard to see how the Brewers were trying to make a statement with that spread. Looks like a simple matter of the Brewers thought they had more accurately assessed Burnes’ value and they arbiters agreed.

That may be Euro but the arbiter doesn’t have to deal with any collateral damage. He or she makes their ruling then moves on with their day. The team is the one drug through the court of public opinion.

I have seen quite a bit of criticism of the team about it but I am sure it isn’t unanimous.

Wow. Not a good look for the Brewers after going to arbitration with their ace.

Corbin Burnes isn’t happy. Rightfully so.

https://t.co/Nm1M0w4QtW

— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) February 16, 2023