I'm having a little trouble figuring this out. Especially when I've traded for a guy that was already in his arb years with another team.

I just look at his contract years. Every year that he was getting paid more than the league minimum was an arb year. And on the off chance he ended up getting league minimum in arb, it probably doesn't matter much what year he's in anyway since he should be easy to sign.

I look at ML service time.  They are in arbitration for years 3, 4, and 5.

I'm still having a little trouble. For example a player shows 9 pro years with 3 ML years. Contract page shows the following:
season 9 8k
season 10 8k
season 11 27k
season 12 38k
season 13 38 k
season 14 57k
season 15 59 k
season 16 343k
season 17 360k

Now in season 18 on the arb report it shows 1.7 mil or long term of 3 years @ 7.5 mil.

What year of arb is he in? I would think season 18 is his third year. So I could get by with 1.7 and next year lock him long term? 

Ok I think I got it now. Second question. With your prized players do you locked them up after the second year of arb or wait the full three? Is it just cost savings or is there a real risk of losing them to free agency?

For the first question, I believe it works out that way because it is showing you the salary at the start of that season.  Your player was likely promoted to the BL during that season, which is why it was counted as a pre-arb year.

For the second question, others have generally recommended to look at signing studs to a long term deal before arbitrating a third time.

Right.  I sign the guys I plan to keep long-term during their second arb year.

Depends on their age.  A 26 year old I'm sure I want to keep might get a LT deal earlier than a 22 year old.   I figure if I lock him up at the cheaper rate, I'll have him until he's 30. 

Look at his transaction history. Sort it by arb. That will tell you how many times he has been to arbitration.

Wow.  So simple yet so overlooked.  

Great strikeout26! Thanks.

No problem.