A Hearing a Day - Wandy Rodriguez

The Houston Astros and pitcher Wandy Rodriguez held baseball’s fifth hearing of the year today. The Astros offered Rodriguez $5,000,000 while the pitcher requested $7,000,000. The gap of $2,000,000 demonstrates a significant disagreement between the two parties over the lefty’s value. The midpoint is $6,000,000. Rodriguez was paid $2,600,000 in 2009 after exchanging figures with Houston ($3,000,000-$2,250,000), and he is in the service group of players between four and five years. Four of the strongest starters in this group signed multi-year contracts: Felix Hernandez (Seattle), Edwin Jackson (Arizona), Josh Johnson (and Justin Verlander (Detroit). The one-time star of this group, Chien-Ming Wang just signed a $2,000,000 deal with Washington this week. Joe Blanton (Philadelphia), who just barely made it into the service group with over five years, also signed a multi-year deal.

The panel was Richard Bloch, Elizabeth Neumeier and Fredric Horowitz. Bloch is a very experienced arbitrator with a significant pro-team record. Rodriguez was 14-12 last season with a fine 3.02 ERA and a career high strikeout total of 193. His career won-loss log is 51-52. Again, I will post more in the comments section.