SF Giants: Which Players are Arbitration-Eligible this Offseason

The SF Giants will have some decisions to make this offseason as nine players will be eligible for arbitration.

It is possible, if not likely, that the SF Giants will not tender a contract to all nine of those players thereby making them free agents.

The salary arbitration process exists to give players leverage in negotiating their salary for the upcoming season. Normally, factors such as service time and on-field performance are considered and used to support a player’s case.

Players with more than three years of service time are eligible for arbitration, and they can go through the process three or four times depending on when the service clock began. Ideally, by the end of the process, players have established their market rate when they hit free agency. It really becomes a “what have you done for me lately” process.

If a player is tendered a contract for the upcoming season, then that player and team will exchange salary figures. The player’s demand will always be higher than the team’s offer, and if they cannot come to an agreement, then both parties will state their case in front of a third-party panel.

At that point, the panel will side with either the player’s demand or the team’s offer, and then the salary for the upcoming season will be set. Most times, the team and player will find a middle ground before going to arbitration.

The SF Giants have until December 2, 2020, to decide to tender a contract to their nine arbitration-eligible players. The list of players, according to Spotrac, and their 2020 performance are included below:

• Tyler Anderson (Arb 3) – 13 games, 59.2 innings, 4.37 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 15.8 percent strikeout rate, 9.6 percent walk rate
• Alex Dickerson (Arb 3) – 170 plate appearances, .298/.371/.576, 157 OPS+, 10 home runs, 27 RBI, 9.4 percent walk rate, 17.6 percent strikeout rate
• Donovan Solano (Arb 3) –   203 plate appearances, .326/.365/.463, 128 OPS+, three home runs, 29 RBI, 4.9 percent walk rate, 19.2 percent strikeout rate
• Wandy Peralta (Arb 2) – 25 games, 27.1 innings, 3.29 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 21.9 percent strikeout rate, 9.6 percent walk rate
• Daniel Robertson (Arb 2) –  24 plate appearances, .333/.417/.333, 113 OPS+, two RBI, 12.5 percent walk rate, 25 percent strikeout rate
• Joey Rickard (Arb 2) – six plate appearances, no hits, 16.7 percent walk rate, 16.7 percent strikeout rate
• Jarlin Garcia (Arb 1) – 19 games, 18.1 innings, 0.49 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 19.2 percent strikeout rate, 9.6 percent walk rate
• Trevor Gott (Arb 1) – 15 games, 11.2 innings, 10.03 ERA, 11.93 FIP, 14 percent strikeout rate, 14 percent walk rate
• Reyes Moronta (Arb 1) – Injured in 2020

There are a few names on here, such as Joey Rickard, who will likely not be tendered a contract for 2021. With the current landscape of MLB, this could be a weird year for the arbitration deadline as I anticipate teams non-tendering more players than usual to make up for the lost revenue from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

If my assumption comes true, then we could see a much larger free-agent market than originally expected.

Interestingly, the SF Giants have not gone through the arbitration process with a player since A.J. Pierzynski in 2004. We all know how that turned out, and we have been cursed ever since.

Anyways, arbitration is a tough process for players to go through, and the Giants have done well to avoid that altogether over the years.

That said, they have a decision looming on nine players in a couple of months, and I do think we will be in for a surprise or two. This is going to be a weird offseason.