ok, if you have a very very good player sign him after the first arb year, do not wait until after the second. I have an amazing pitcher who is only willing to sign a 1 year deal now, he would have taken 5 if I had done it after 1 year. I saved money but I just lost a year with him.

I don't think there is any way to predict this. Others have said they have arb'd guys 2 or 3 times and still signed them to 5 year deals after arb. I just signed an 83 OVR catcher (which is pretty high for a catcher as I understand it) to a 5 year deal after 2 arb years. Not only did I arb him twice, but I BEAT him in arb twice.

I was willing to take a risk and do that to save a few bucks because I have a pretty good catcher in AAA awaiting in the wings. I'd have been ok taking 2 Type A picks for this guy and then replacing him with the dude in AAA if he .

I have never seen a player not accept a 5 year contract after his 2nd arb season. Offer him 5 years at the average rate of the 1 season he asked.

P.S. If you are waiting until the end of the season then you are doing it wrong. You have to do it during the resign free agent period that is at the start of the season. You Arb him twice and before he goes to his 3rd season of Arbitration you sign him long term during the Resign Free Agent period that occurs right before his 3rd season of Arbitration.

Quote: Originally posted by plague on 11/05/2009P.S. If you are waiting until the end of the season then you are doing it wrong. You have to do it during the resign free agent period that is at the start of the season. You Arb him twice and before he goes to his 3rd season of Arbitration you sign him long term during the Resign Free Agent period that occurs right before his 3rd season of Arbitration.

Do you mean he will sign the contract BEFORE the a "negotiate long-term" stage? For my catcher I waited until the arb hearings. Then, instead of clicking on "arbitrate" I clicked on "negotiate long-term." He signed for 5 years. If there's a way to sign him LT even before this stage I'd like to experiment with it. Or, are we talking about the same thing, plague?

yeah, we are rolling over right now, when I click the page it shows 3 years, hopefully he will sign for 5.

But make sure you release a player that's arb eligible if you dont want him. Because if you don't sign him ... the computer signs him for you. For whatever reason. And it isn't cheap. And I'll see to it that the player in question never plays another game.

Quote: Originally Posted By kingjohndevi on 11/05/2009ok, if you have a very very good player sign him after the first arb year, do not wait until after the second. I have an amazing pitcher who is only willing to sign a 1 year deal now, he would have taken 5 if I had done it after 1 year. I saved money but I just lost a year with him.

I'm sorry to hear that, but I had suspected that this might be the case... I'm glad I've been signing all my "must keeps" long term during their Arb. 2 offseason.

Quote: Originally Posted By kingjohndevi on 11/05/2009yeah, we are rolling over right now, when I click the page it shows 3 years, hopefully he will sign for 5.

Oh, in that case, just offer him the yearly rate for 5 seasons. I'm pretty sure that works.

Question related to this thread...Instead of offering a few of my better players 2nd year arbitration, I've signed them long term. I was worried that the asking price would go up significantly if I waited until the year 3 signing period (and I realize I need to sign him before the year 3 arb hearing). Is this the case? Thanks in advance.

Yes, his asking price would increase.