The deadline for non-tenders is tomorrow evening. Teams need to decide if they want to offer contracts to their players that are eligible for arbitration (and pre-arbitration). Those who are not offered contracts are sent directly to free agency without risking being waived.
As is the case every winter, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz revealed the salaries of the arbitration class. Teams have already made a few cuts to that group — either early in the season when players return from the injured list or before Tuesday’s deadline to preserve prospects outside of the Rule 5 draft. The Cubs, for example, have Adbert Alzolay again Patrick Wisdom they are off the 40 man roster and will not be officially tendered tomorrow.
Not everyone who has been given a contract will know their salary this week. Some players will sign “pre-tender” deals that lock in guaranteed money. Many of them are borderline untenured students who will take salaries below their average to make sure they stay on their list at all. (Scott Kingery again Seth Brown who have already signed such agreements.) Those who do not sign but are given a contract may have several months of uncertainty. They are free to continue negotiating with their clubs for an agreed salary until the date of their arbitration hearing.
As we do each season, we will look at arb-eligible players who we believe have a realistic shot at being released. To be clear, this is not a list of players we think are better than not being tendered. These are the players we think have at least a 10-20% chance of the cut – a broad group that will not completely surprise us.
At least a few of these players will be traded, as some teams will be more willing than others to accept various salaries. MLBTR listed several candidates for that type of deal in a post to Front Office subscribers yesterday.
In this list, here are the salaries predicted by Matt:
Catchers
First Basemen
Second Basemen
Third Basemen
Shortcuts
Center Fielders
Corner Outfielders
Starting Pitchers
Right Reliers
Left Handed Relievers
* He has avoided mediation since the list was published
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