Cleveland Indians: What’s going on with Trevor Bauer and his arbitration case?

In recent days, MLB’s arbitration process has begun its final stage, as players and teams meet for a hearing to determine the player’s salary for the 2018 season. The Cleveland Indians have only Trevor Bauer to go through this process with.

The Indians do not go through this process often. They’ve only gone to an arbitration hearing three times in the last 27 years, the most recent being with Josh Tomlin in 2014.

In most of the early arbitration cases that have been heard, the players have come out on top. Some of the most notable wins include Mookie Betts, Justin Bour, and Shelby Miller. Hearings first started on January 29th, and they will go through February 17th.

There are a record number of players going through arbitration hearings in the next two weeks and it’s slightly concerning.

There has been some discord between MLB and the players recently, but that’s a discussion for another time. Teams and players file what they believe the contract should be worth in January. They can come to an agreement anytime, but that won’t be the case this year.

A look at the numbers

The numbers are too far apart between the Tribe and 27 year old starter Trevor Bauer. Bauer filed at $6.525 million for the upcoming season. The Cleveland Indians filed at $5.3 million. That is quite a sizable difference. For comparison’s sake, Shelby Miller filed at $4.9 million while Arizona filed at $4.7 million. That’s only a $200,000 difference that could be easily negotiated to the middle.

With that big of a difference, the two sides were destined to reach a hearing. Arbitration values certain numbers more highly than others. Wins is a big category for pitchers, and Bauer finished 2017 with a 17-9 record. But ERA is another big category and Bauer has yet to post a sub-4.00 ERA in his career. That’s hardly going to make him worth $6.525 million.

But he also posts high strikeout numbers, which arbitration also values highly. As you can see, this will be a difficult decision for the three person arbitration panel.

When will we learn of the results of Bauer’s hearing?

Bauer’s scheduled arbitration hearing is set for February 8th. At some point shortly after that, we will find out whether Bauer or the Cleveland Indians won. Once the decision goes to the panel, the contract will come down to one of the two proposed values, there is no middle ground.

Bauer will either get paid $5.3 million or $6.525 million in 2018. Both are a raise over the $3.55 million he earned in 2017. But the precedent that will be set is important for not only other players, but for the rest of Bauer’s arbitration years. He has two more years of arbitration after this one.

If Bauer wins his case, he will be set up to earn a lot more money in the future. He has a lot riding on this arbitration hearing. We will find out the results some time next week.

Next: The Tribe's biggest remaining need

The players have been big winners so far in arbitration. Sadly, they’re really the only players getting paid as free agents still loom on the market. This will certainly be a situation to watch going forward.