Incredibly, Epstein has never gone to arbitration with a player in his eight-plus years as general manager of the Red Sox.
Epstein’s streak continued earlier this week when he signed Jonathan Papelbon ($12 million) and Jacoby Ellsbury ($2.4 million) to one-year contracts.
That’s a lot of money for a pair of players who didn’t exactly light it up last season. Papelbon had the worst year of his career, with eight blown saves and the highest ERA of his five full big-league seasons. Despite those numbers, he’ll get a $2.65 million raise for 2011.
Ellsbury played only 18 games last year, spending most of the season on the DL with broken ribs. He made $496,000 in 2010 and will make more than five times that next summer.
So why didn’t Epstein fight to keep the these salaries down for next season? Seems he could’ve saved the team a few bucks — perhaps a million or more — by going to arbitration and fighting against the escalating payroll.
He didn’t do that because arbitration is a nasty business. The team goes into a room and points out the player’s flaws and shows all the reasons he should not make as much as Player X. After grooming these young players to be the type of athlete you can build a franchise around, Epstein would have to go into arbitration and tell Papelbon or Ellsbury that he was failing in that mission.
How nasty can arbitration be? Back in 1998, NESN’s own Mike Milbury was general manager of the New York Islanders. He represented the team in its arbitration hearing with goaltender Tommy Salo, who had just finished his first season as the No. 1 goalie for the Isles and was looking to cash in. Milbury attacked the hearing the same way he would attack opposing skaters back when he played for the Bruins. He pulled no punches.
In the hearing, Milbury questioned Salo’s mental toughness, his conditioning and whether or not he’d be able to keep the top job in the coming season. By the time the arbitrator ruled for the Islanders, Salo was in tears. The relationship between team and player was irreparably harmed and Salo would be traded away before the end of the next season.
Epstein has done a masterful job avoiding those situations. He’s not the general manager of the Islanders — he’s running the baseball operations of a team that can afford to pay (and perhaps overpay) its top young players. By putting a little more money up front, Epstein has kept his team in harmony while putting smiles on the faces of a few young players.
Because of that, there has been very little complaining from players in their fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons with the Sox. These arbitration-eligible players know Epstein’s track record, and they believe they will be taken care of.
The record was enhanced this week with the contracts given to Papelbon and Ellsbury. The deals were very good for the players … but they were good for the team, too.
