confused?!

[P-Ram]

i am...what does it mean to be up for salary arbitration?

[ryno4ever]

Any player who has achieved three years of major league service time, but fewer than six, is automatically eligible for salary arbitration if he is not under contract. During this process, the team offers the player the salary it wants to pay. The player counters with the figure he feels he deserves. Normally, the two sides continue to negotiate and settle on a number somewhere between these two figures. If they fail to settle, however, the two sides present their cases before an independent arbitrator, who ultimately chooses one figure or the other. That number becomes the player’s salary for the following season.

This is the simplest definition I found on about.com. If I find a simpler, and more informative definition, I'll post it.

[DLee25]

A: A player with three or more years of service, but less than six years, may file for salary arbitration. In addition, a player can be classified as a "Super Two" and be eligible for arbitration with less than three years of service. A player with at least two but less than three years of Major League service shall be eligible for salary arbitration if he has accumulated at least 86 days of service during the immediately preceding season and he ranks in the top 17 percent in total service in the class of Players who have at least two but less than three years of Major League service, however accumulated, but with at least 86 days of service accumulated during the immediately preceding season.

[SkullKey]

http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/

The above is a good site for various financial / business information ( among many ) .

Click on "transactions glossary" for several references of quality .

It's a good reference site to bookmark .

[HOLYCOW!25]

But Zambrano is under contract isn't he? And Prior. So what's going on?

[bringbacktuffy]

They are under contract until the end of the 07 season. In order to lock up Zambrano before he goes to arbitration is important b/c otherwise he will take a signifigant chunk of the following season's payroll (a la Barry Zito). He will force JH to make a huge offer by basically threatening to leave the team. I dont think it will get to that point but, this is business after all. Prior is a different animal all together. He has this season to prove that he is worth a contract extension with the Cubs, and if we dont want him back, he has to hope that someone else will want to take a chance on him as a 4 or 5 starter. I could be off base but i dont think so.