CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The hour is almost upon us.After weeks of discussion and speculation, Ryan Howard will meet agent Casey Close and head to the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel and Resort in nearby St. Petersburg for his eagerly anticipated arbitration hearing. A contingent of Phillies officials, including assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., will do the same. And unless Amaro and Close can come to an agreement before they walk into the conference room, both sides will argue their case to a panel of three arbitrators.
One agent I spoke to last week said, "It should be interesting."
But will it be contentious? And will the things that get said in that room linger after the hearing is over? Not even Howard could predict what might happen. "I've heard from different guys that have gone through it, and they say, 'Don't take anything personal,' " Howard said yesterday. "It's easy to say, but until you get in there and experience it, you don't know. Maybe some people are worried that I'll be flipping out or whatever. But I'm just staying calm right now."
To recap: Howard wants to be paid $10 million this year. The Phillies are offering $7 million. Either way, Howard will get VERY rich. And he can't become a free agent until after the 2011 season, so it's possible we're talking about arbitration hearings in each of the next three years, too.
Want to know exactly what happens in the room? Tom Gordon went through the process in 1994, and on Sunday, he told The News Journal about his experience. It was the first time he had discussed it publicly. And in today's 50-center, agent Chris Leible talked about how Johan Santana channeled his disappointment from losing his case in 2004 into winning the Cy Young Award.
So, who wins? I'm giving the slight edge to the Phillies, who are 7-0 all-time in arbitration hearings. Also, players are 0-5 this year, with three more cases to be heard. Could it be a clean sweep? We'll find out tomorrow when Howard gets his verdict.
For now, I'm headed over to the Renaissance Vinoy. We'll have more throughout the day from Howard and Jimmy Rollins, who will meet the press today at Bright House Field.
1 comment:
After reading the piece in todays 50center, I can't exactly agree with your Santana arbitration comparison. What Leible is essentially saying is that ownership found enough faults with Santana's case to convince the arbitrators to rule against him, thus creating enough issue to which Johan would need to find the motivation to prove them wrong.
Obviously none of us were in the room that day so we cant be 100% certain what the dialouge was, but if he needed motivation then he had to have walked out upset at something that was either said or inferred. And now Johan is no longer a Twin.
If the same thing happens with Howard, I don't see how lucky the Phillies will be because of it. Or the Fans.
Post a Comment