By Chris Dial
One of the items flying under the radar last week was the Arbitration Deadline, on Thursday January 11. The New York Mets had a half dozen players with the right service times – players between three and six years, plus Super Twos. Going to arbitration is almost universally a bad play for teams because they are then put in the position to say to a player “You are not as valuable as you think you are.” That is a losing argument for the team.
The last few years have seen the rise of younger stars, leading to higher and higher arbitration-avoiding contracts. Last year Shohei Ohtani signed for $30 million, and just a few years before that Mookie Betts signed for $27 million. As the deadline loomed the New York Yankees signed Juan Soto for $31.5 million this year.
The Mets had Pete Alonso, David Peterson, Drew Smith, Joey Lucchesi, and the two new players from the Milwaukee Brewers, Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor as arbitration candidates for 2024. As expected, each player signed a one year deal and will see what happens for 2024 and try again next winter.
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