hope this helps the confused....

F. Salary Arbitration

The following salary arbitration procedure shall be applicable:

 

(1) Eligibility.

The issue of a Player?s salary may be submitted to final and binding arbitration by any Player or his Club, provided the other party to the arbitration consents thereto. Any Club, or any Player with a total of three or more years of Major League service, however accumulated, but with less than six years of Major League service, may submit the issue of the Player?s salary to final and binding arbitration without the consent of the other party, subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) below. In addition, a Player with at least two but less than three years of Major League service shall be eligible for salary arbitration if: (a) he has accumulated at least 86 days of service during the immediately preceding season; and (b) he ranks in the top seventeen percent (17%) (rounded to the nearest whole number) in total service in the class of Players who have at least two but less than three years of Major League service, however accumulated, but with at least 86 days of service accumulated during the immediately preceding season. If two or more Players are tied in ranking, ties shall be broken consecutively based on the number of days of service accumulated in each of the immediately preceding seasons. If the Players remain

tied, the final tie breaker will be by lot.

 

(2) Trade Demand-Club Consent to Arbitration.

Any Player whose Club has offered to proceed to salary arbitration pursuant to Article XX?(5) may elect salary arbitration in the same manner and at the same time as other Players. (3) Notice of Submission (a) Player Submission. Election of submission shall be communicated by telephone or any other method of communication by the Player to the Association. Written notice of submission shall then be given, within the specified time limits, by the Association on behalf of the Player to the designated representative of the Major League Baseball Labor Relations Department (?LRD?). Within three days after the notice of submission has been given, the Association and the LRD shall exchange salary figures. It shall be the responsibility of the Association during this threeday period to obtain the salary figure from the Player, and the LRD shall have a similar responsibility to obtain the Club?s figure. (b) Club Submission. Written notice of submission by the Club shall be communicated to the Player by registered letter mailed between January 2 and January 12 (both inclusive) to the last address the Player has supplied to the Club, with copies to the Association and the LRD. The submission shall be deemed to be made on the third day following the date of mailing by the Club. Salary figures shall be exchanged by the Association and the LRD as soon as practicable thereafter.

? Special Exceptions to Maximum Salary Reduction Rules (i) A Club may submit a salary figure for salary arbitration that is at least 80% of the Player?s previous year?s salary and earned performance bonuses (and at least 70% of his salary and earned performance bonuses two years previous), the provisions of Section A(5) above notwithstanding. This exception shall not be used by any party, or considered by any salary arbitrator, in support of, or in opposition to, any argument regarding the evaluation of Player contracts. (ii) A Club may submit a salary arbitration figure without regard to the provisions of Section D above if the figure submitted is with respect to a Player who, in the immediately preceding year, won a salary arbitration which increased the Player?s prior year?s salary by in excess of 50%. The above exceptions to the maximum salary reduction rules do not alter the obligations of the Clubs to comply with Articles VI(D) and XX(A) of this Agreement and paragraph 10(a) of the Uniform Player?s Contract for the purposes of contract tender and renewal.

 

(4) Withdrawal from Arbitration.

In the event the Club submits the matter to arbitration, the Player may within 7 days after receipt of the Club?s salary arbitration figure notify the Club that he does not wish to arbitrate and the matter shall be deemed withdrawn from arbitration. In such event, or in the event that neither the Club nor the Player submits to arbitration, the rights and obligations of the Club and Player shall be as they would have been had the salary arbitration procedure never been invoked. In the event the Club and Player reach agreement on salary before the arbitration panel reaches a decision, the matter shall be deemed withdrawn from arbitration.

 

(5) Timetable and Decision.

Submission may be made at any time between January 5 and January 15. In the event the offer of the Club is reduced on or subsequent to January 15, the Player?s right to submit to arbitration shall be reinstated for a period of 7 days. Arbitration

hearings shall be held as soon as possible after submission and, to the extent practicable, shall be scheduled to be held from February 1 to February 20. The arbitration panel may render the decision on the day of the hearing, and shall make every effort to do so not later than 24 hours following the close of the hearing. The

arbitration panel shall be limited to awarding only one or the other of the two figures submitted. There shall be no opinion. There shall be no release of the arbitration award by the arbitration panel except to the Club, the Player, the Association and the LRD. The panel chair shall initially inform the Association and the LRD of the award only and not how the panel members voted. The panel chair shall disclose to the Association and the LRD the individual votes of the panel members on each March 15 following the February hearings. The panel chair shall insert the figure awarded in paragraph 2 of the duplicate Uniform Player?s Contracts delivered at the hearing and shall forward both copies to the Office of the Commissioner.

 

(6) Form of Submission.

The Player and the Club shall exchange with each other in advance of the hearing single salary figures for the coming season (which need not be figures offered during

the prior negotiations) and then shall submit such figures to the arbitration panel. At the hearing, the Player and Club shall deliver to the arbitration panel a Uniform Player?s Contract executed in duplicate, complete except for the salary figure to be inserted in paragraph 2. Upon submission of the salary issue to arbitration by either

Player or Club, the Player shall be regarded as a signed Player (unless the Player withdraws from arbitration as provided in paragraph (4) above).

 

Selection of Arbitrators.

The Association and the LRD shall annually select the arbitrators. In the event they are unable to agree by January 1 in any year, they jointly shall request that the American Arbitration Association furnish them lists of prominent, professional arbitrators. Upon receipt of such lists, the arbitrators shall be selected by alternately striking names from the lists. All cases shall be assigned to three-arbitrator panels. The Association and the LRD shall designate one arbitrator to serve as the panel chair.

 

(8) Location of Hearings.

The single hearing site for each year will be agreed upon by the parties with preference being given to either Los Angeles, Tampa/Orlando, or Phoenix.

 

(9) Conduct of Hearings.

The hearings shall be conducted on a private and confidential basis. Each of the parties to a case shall be limited to one hour for initial presentation and one-half hour for rebuttal and summation. The aforesaid time limitations may be extended by the arbitration panel in the event of lengthy crossexamination of witnesses, or for other good cause.

 

(10) Continuances, Adjournments or Postponements.

There shall be no continuances or adjournments of a hearing, but the commencement of a hearing may be postponed by the arbitration panel upon the application of either the Player or Club based upon a showing of substantial cause. Any request for the postponement of a scheduled hearing shall be made to the panel chair in writing, with copies to the Association and the LRD. Disclosure of individual

votes by panel members shall be in accordance with paragraph (5) above.

 

(11) Hearing Costs.

The Player and Club shall divide equally the costs of the hearing, and each shall be responsible for his own expenses and those of his counsel or other representatives.

 

(12) Criteria

(a) The criteria will be the quality of the Player?s contribution to his Club during the past season (including but not limited to his overall performance, special qualities of leadership and public appeal), the length and consistency of his career contribution, the record of the Player?s past compensation, comparative baseball salaries (see paragraph (13) below for confidential salary data), the existence of any physical or mental defects on the part of the Player, and the recent performance record of the Club including but not limited to its League standing and attendance as an indication of public acceptance (subject to the exclusion stated in subparagraph (b)(i) below). Any evidence may be submitted which is relevant to the above criteria, and the arbitration panel shall assign such weight to the evidence as shall appear appropriate under the circumstances. The arbitration panel shall, except for a Player with five or more years of Major League service, give particular attention, for comparative salary purposes, to the contracts of Players with Major League service not exceeding one annual service group above the Player?s annual service group. This shall not limit the ability of a Player or his representative, because of special accomplishment, to argue the equal relevance of salaries of Players without regard to service, and the arbitration panel shall give whatever weight to such argument as is deemed appropriate. (b) Evidence of the following shall not be admissible: (i) The financial position of the Player and the Club; (ii) Press comments, testimonials or similar material bearing on the performance of either the Player or the Club, except that recognized annual Player awards for playing excellence shall not be excluded; (iii) Offers made by either Player or Club prior to arbitration; (iv) The cost to the parties of their representatives, attorneys, etc.; (v) Salaries in other sports or occupations.

 

(13) Confidential Major League Salary Data.

For its confidential use, as background information, the arbitration panel will be given a tabulation showing the minimum salary in the Major Leagues and salaries for the preceding season of all players on Major League rosters as of August 31, broken down by years of Major League service. The names and Clubs of the Players concerned will appear on the tabulation. In utilizing the salary tabulation, the arbitration panel shall consider the salaries of all comparable Players and not merely the salary of a single Player or group of Players.

 

(14) Prohibition Regarding Competitive Balance Tax.

No participant in a salary arbitration shall refer in any fashion, either orally or in writing, to any of the provisions in Article XXIII (Competitive Balance Tax). No salary arbitration panel shall consider in any fashion any of the provisions in Article XXIII (Competitive Balance Tax).

from the most recent Basic Agreement 2003-2006

Actually, that just confuses me even more. Thanks though. :blink: