Baseball's financial structure appears to have reached a tipping point that can be defined simply. "The arbitration process is now outdated," said a highly ranked executive, "because the players can get more money in arbitration than they would through free agency."
So now teams are about to adjust to this reality, and this is why multiple general managers expect that
dozens of young players with three, four and five years of major league experience will be cut loose rather than offered arbitration in the next 41 days. Not a handful, but dozens.
During the past 48 hours, I went through the rosters with some executives and counted 93 solid non-tender candidates -- players whose current teams simply won't offer them contracts for 2010. If the final numbers come close to that figure, close to 300 veteran players will be looking for jobs in the winter, a staggering number that will inevitably depress the asking prices for free agents.
Here are a couple of players whose contractual situations might warrant consideration for a non-tender:
To read more of Buster Olney's observations on arbitration and non-tenders -- and his breakdown of why Cole Hamels ultimately turned away from what was making him successful early in Game 3 -- you must be an ESPN Insider.
Buster Olney
