I figured this would be of interest to many of you since there has been so much talk of trying get Rios in a Marlins uniform. Rios was a "Super 2" arby eligible player before settling for this one-year $2.5 million contract.

 

Rios gets 716 per cent raise

Jays avoid arbitration again by signing last three eligible players, including Johnson and Downs

 

Feb 03, 2007 04:30 AM

Allan Ryan

SPORTS REPORTER

 

Hitting it pretty much up the middle, the Blue Jays came to terms with all three of their remaining arbitration-eligible players yesterday, marking a 10th straight winter in which the club has skirted a hearing.

 

In a particularly celebratory mood was young outfielder Alex Rios, who lucked into this year's process by a single day's service time, and, with a settlement for $2.535 million (all figures U.S.), gets better than a seven-fold raise on the $354,000 he got a year ago.

 

Outfield Reed Johnson, ducking arbitration for a second straight year, will go from $1.425 million to $3.075 million, while reliever Scott Downs gets a bump from $705,000 to $1.025 million.

 

Rios, two weeks from turning 26, last night made the 30-minute drive from hometown Guaynabo to the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan to hook up with agent Paul Kinzer.

 

"There'll be his girlfriend, a couple of friends," said Kinzer.

 

"We're having dinner, nothing crazy. He feels fortunate, very happy. Hopefully this is just the start of other good things (in Toronto)."

 

All three settlements virtually split the difference between the club's offers and players' requests.

 

Rios had asked for $3.1 million against a club offer of $2 million; Johnson was $3.6 versus $2.5 million; Downs was looking for $1.2 million versus $925,000.

 

That's pretty much how arbitration works these days.

 

Introduced in 1974 as a means to eliminate player holdouts (one of a player's few negotiating tactics back then) but also to try to help younger players receive something approaching fair market value before they qualify for free-agent status after six years' service time.

 

Owners reviled the system once they realized it was even a more spectacular salary escalator than free agency but now it's a grudgingly accepted part of baseball's economic landscape.

 

"There's still some scraps but, unless it's a hostile situation, everybody's got a lot better at coming in with their number these days," said Kinzer.

 

For Rios, it was clearly a matter of being in the right place at the right time. He qualified ? and just barely ? for the process this time around as a so-called Super 2 ? a player ranking in the top 17 per cent of service time for all those players with two-plus years in the books but not yet three.

 

The cut-off point this winter was two years, 130 days (a major-league "year" tops out at 172 days), which is precisely where Rios came in.

 

One day's less service since his big-time debut in May of 2004, and Jays would've been entitled to hand him a nominal raise on the $354,000 he earned ? itself, just $27,000 over the baseball minimum ? over his breakout 2006.

 

One day less and you'd also probably hear Kinzer make mention of the fact that his man never got a September call-up despite a .352, 82-RBI season for Double-A New Haven in 2003.

 

Source-- http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/177886

it's hard to see how Reed Johnson is getting paid more than Rios.

it's hard to see how Reed Johnson is getting paid more than Rios.

No it's not

Players always make more in each year of arbitration

Rios: first year

Johnson: second year

Players will generally get about double what they got in their first year as long as they're performance stays consistent

it's hard to see how Reed Johnson is getting paid more than Rios.

No it's not

Players always make more in each year of arbitration

Rios: first year

Johnson: second year

Players will generally get about double what they got in their first year as long as they're performance stays consistent

I know, I understand why. It just doesn't seem right, since Rios is a much better player.