i can't state this strongly enough, but it would be insane to release him...so much wrong with the OP's reasoning...no need to demote him and therefore he won't lose his options (which who cares about anyway)...absolutely max you'll be paying him is 5M for the next 2 years (i'm not sure how being injured at time of arb affects demands since it hasn't happened to me in a long time so it could even end up being a lot less)...a 26 yo with his ratings as a FA would get significantly more than 5M per year and would definitely get 5 years whereas you'll have the option to arb him again for a 3rd time if you are still concerned about a long term deal or even release him before arb 3 if he suffers another injury...his bat is plenty valuable for any position on the diamond and he wasn't much of a 2B to begin with, so he only lost a little defensive value...yes he lost a lot of baserunning value, but that is like like losing the cherry on top of your sundae...i don't mean to be harsh, but the fact that the idea of releasing him even crossed your mind means that you have a long way to go in understanding how to be successful in this game, but glad you at least asked before just doing it