I think what some people are missing is that Hockey and Baseball arbitration is very different.
The fact that the arbitrator has to pick 1 of the 2 numbers submitted changes the process. Also, there are lot more stats to back up the arguments for each number submitted. Both the team and the player know what they are getting into once they go to arbitration.
There are no surprises to the team or player in terms of performance arguments, all of the stats are out there. So much so, that there are websites that predict arbitration salaries to a decent accuracy.
So I find arbitration in baseball doesn't damage the relationship between the team and player unlike the NHL. It is a process used to extract a fair salary based on past performance.
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