Quote:
Originally Posted by nfotiu
Baseball teams don't offer much more than they have to when players are under team control unless they are buying out UFA years and no one usually sits out or complains.
|
After a fairly comparable period of time to the expiry of an NHL ELC MLB players become eligible for arbitration and get significant raises (significantly more then NHL teams are required to submit for an RFA qualifying offer). Take Josh Donaldson as an example...
2012 Player Cash Earnings $480,000
2013 Player Cash Earnings $492,500
2014 Player Cash Earnings $500,000
2015 Player Cash Earnings $4,300,000
2016 Player Cash Earnings $11,650,000
2017 Player Cash Earnings $17,000,000
2018 4th Time Arbitration Eligible
2019 Free Agency
... so three super cheap years followed by significantly more money. Sound like any professional hockey league you're familiar with? It's not all that different except that arbitration is a normal standardized process in baseball and offer sheets don't exist.