Baseball arbitration and free agency differ tremendously in one respect: free agency is about what a player will achieve while arbitration focuses on what he has done.
Future
projections – based on past performance – play a role in free agency. But
projections aren’t included in the arbitration criteria. This distinction makes
certain types of information and analysis, which clubs may not want to see in a
free agent package, extremely important
to an agent’s arbitration brief.
For example,
skills like bunting and advancing runners with outs won’t fetch top dollar on
the free agent market. But arbitration is a whole different ballgame. Exhibits
detailing how a player excelled at “little things” – that resulted in wins – help make your brief a winner. Demonstrate how
he performed better than comparable arbitration eligibles in these
areas, and it strengthens your case even
further.
Gregor Blanco
didn’t post big numbers in core statistical categories, but he delivered in many other ways that impacted
the Giants outstanding season.
1) Blanco did
not hit into a double play in 453 plate appearances. This had only been done
seven times since 1950.
2) He advanced a
runner from second base with nobody out in seven of eight plate appearances in
this situation.
3) He drove in a
runner from third base with less than two outs 10 times in 18 opportunities. Six
of these RBI came in the seventh inning or later, seven contributed to wins and
three made up the margin of victory in one-run games.
4) Blanco topped
25 steals and had 5 triples in fewer than 400 at-bats. Only one other Giants player had done that since
1912.
5) He executed
five successful sacrifice bunts. The Giants went 4-1 in these games.
All those feats
are impressive enough, but they also
contributed to a World Championship team. Looking back, for arbitration, that
bottom line is all that matters.
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