The Arbitration Process Stings, And For Some, It Burnes
In today's issue, one IBWAA member unpacks the recent arbitration ruling for Brewers ace Corbin Burnes and how it could reflect poorly on the club.
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans.
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Corbin Burnes is not the only high-profile MLB player to lose an arbitration case this offseason. Here are a few other players who had elite 2022 seasons, went to arbitration with their clubs this offseason, and lost their hearings.
Atlanta Braves starter Max Fried went to arbitration seeking a $15 million salary for 2023 after the Braves offered him $13.5 million. The ruling went in the Braves’ favor. This was the second consecutive year that Fried’s salary was decided by an arbitration hearing, though he won his 2022 hearing to be paid $6.85 million instead of the $6.6 million Atlanta offered. In 2022, Fried finished second in the National League Cy Young voting and won his third straight Gold Glove Award.
St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley lost his arbitration hearing, and he will earn $2.15 million in 2023 instead of the $3 million he was seeking from the Cardinals. Helsley has two more years of arbitration eligibility remaining before he reaches free agency. In 2022, he pitched to a 1.25 ERA in 54 appearances, made his first All-Star team, was selected to the All-MLB team and finished 12th in NL Cy Young voting.
Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker also lost his arbitration case to the club and will make $5 million in 2023 instead of the $7.5 million he was originally seeking. All Tucker did in 2022 was hit 30 home runs, drive in 107 runs, make his first All-Star team, win his first Gold Glove, and finish in the top 20 in American League MVP voting for the second straight year.
Leading Off
Corbin Burnes Is The Victim
By Ray Kuhn
At what point is it just not worth it?
Money is important and it drives many of our decisions. By no means am I looking to criticize that or come out against capitalism, as that would just be hypocritical. I like money just as much as the next person, and I am going to take steps to ensure that either I earn more of it or spend less of it.
Major League Baseball players and organizations are no different. Yes, it is all about the love of the game, playing for free and the romantic nature of it, but ultimately, we are dealing with a business. Just about all of us would sign up to play professional baseball and, at least at first, would say that finances would not be at the forefront of our thought process.
When it comes time to negotiate contracts though, it is hard to turn off those capitalistic thoughts. This is where we run into potential problems as team management is attacking things with the complete opposite point of view.
As much as we say that owning a baseball team is part of a public trust and the real payoff comes from the appreciation in value from the time of purchase, it is still a for-profit business.
However, at what point is that wrong and should alternatives be considered? Sometimes, it is more damaging to put every last dollar first, and in some cases, neither party wins and the ramifications are worse than the dollar amount. In these cases, the opportunity cost is higher than the actual cost.
In this situation, what is the actual cost of $740,000? What about taking things a step further, and in the interest of compromise, what about $370,000?
For Corbin Burnes and the Milwaukee Brewers, the effects will be staggering and far more than any actual dollars.
Let us first be clear here: Burnes is not the bad actor. Any blame in this situation will land at the feet of the Brewers who are not winning any public relations battles, as their track record is far from ideal. There are multiple player personnel situations that they have mangled, most recently the trade of Josh Hader this past summer.
Burnes is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the right-hander has been a large part of any success the Brewers have had in the last few seasons. At the same time, Burnes has also been one of the most underpaid pitchers in baseball, as he has resided in a far different neighborhood than the recent free agent contracts signed by Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer.
I don’t want to digress too much into a conversation about how exceptional young players are essentially exploited from a contract perspective, as they cannot reach free agency for the first five or six years of their Major League careers. For the last three of those years, arbitration is in place to help get players at least close to their market value.
How close that actually is, is a very different discussion.
Just because Burnes is two years away from free agency, he will be making $10 million in 2023 rather than even the $18 million that Taijuan Walker will be averaging over the next four years with the Philadelphia Phillies. No one is going to come close to saying that Walker is a better pitcher than Burnes. The same case can likely be made for him and Carlos Rodón, who is now averaging $27 million per year with the New York Yankees.
Burnes now has three consecutive elite seasons and top 7 Cy Young finishes under his belt, including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He posted a 2.43 ERA in 167 innings in 2021 and then a 2.94 ERA in 2022 over 202 innings. He consistently strikes out more than a batter per inning and has emerged as an ace for Milwaukee.
The problem for the Brewers is now that Burnes has reached arbitration, while they are still getting a clear bargain, they do have to start paying a little more of what he is worth. And that is not good for Milwaukee as it is not on the strongest of financial footings, especially after dealing with COVID-19 over the last few years and the impact it has had on their ticket sales (a large part of the club’s revenue stream).
So right or wrong, the Brewers are going to look to save a dollar whenever they can, and in this case, it was offering Burnes $740,000 less than he asked for in arbitration. Yes, Burnes did struggle in the second half of last season, but it was relative (I mean, look at his season stats) as his 3.97 ERA could have been a lot worse and opposing hitters still hit just .218 against him in that span.
The Brewers used that against Burnes in the arbitration process, which they actually won, although they didn’t generate much goodwill as they sat across the table from their star pitcher.
From the perspective of Burnes, you are seeing what your peers are making while knowing you are better, and that is hard to take, so why not go for it? The Brewers saw a chance to save a few bucks and took it, while not considering or caring that they had to essentially tear Burnes down in person.
Now they have a pitcher who is not happy with them, a clubhouse more in distress, and an overall bad message being sent. When Burnes demands a trade or leaves in free agency, were those savings really worth it for Milwaukee?
Ray Kuhn can be found writing on Fantasy Alarm and podcasting at Friends With Fantasy Benefits after previously covering the Houston Astros as part of the FanSided network at Climbing Tal’s Hill. Reach him at @ray_kuhn_28 or raykuhn57@gmail.com as he is always interested in talking or writing about our great game.
Milwaukee absolutely looks like the bad guy here, and Burnes' gripes are completely justified, but I do wonder how much of this is performance and strategy on his part. Maybe they could have used more tact, but it feels like he might have already made up his mind that he doesn't want to pitch in Milwaukee anymore and is maneuvering his way out. Not a bad strategy to make himself look like the good guy if that's the case, though as a fan of a small market team (who, like Milwaukee, could definitely spend more than they do but are still at a disadvantage in baseball's economy system), I'm not sure I care for it. Arbitration can always be tricky, but I think this split was coming no matter what.