18 Players Exchange Filing Figures

"Teams and arbitration-eligible players had until 7:00 pm Central to agree to terms or exchange filing figures. The vast majority agreed to salaries, either this afternoon or before November's non-tender deadline to ensure they were offered contracts at all. There were 18 cases where team and player did not align - none bigger than the record $13MM gap between the Tigers and Tarik Skubal. Nothing formally prevents players and teams from continuing negotiations."

"However, virtually every team takes a "file-and-trial" approach to the process. Clubs will mostly refuse to continue talks about one-year deals after this date. They'll often make exceptions for discussions involving multi-year contracts or one-year deals with a club/mutual option. It's unlikely that all of these players will end up getting to a hearing, but the majority probably will. If the sides go to a hearing, a three-person arbitration panel will either choose the player's or the team's filing figure."

"(Hearings will run between January 26 and February 13.) The arbitrators cannot pick a midpoint. That's designed to prevent the parties from anchoring by filing at extremely high or low figures. Teams' preferences for the file-and-trial approach follows a similar logic. The idea is to deter players from submitting a higher number from which they could continue to negotiate until the hearing begins."

Teams and arbitration-eligible players had until 7:00 pm Central to agree to terms or exchange filing figures. The vast majority agreed to one-year salaries, many finalizing deals before the non-tender deadline to ensure contract offers. Eighteen cases did not align, with the largest gap a $13 million difference between the Tigers and Tarik Skubal. Most clubs adopt a file-and-trial approach and will largely refuse continued talks on one-year deals after the deadline, though exceptions occur for multi-year deals or optioned one-year contracts. Unresolved cases proceed to hearings where a three-person panel must choose either the team's or player's filing figure; arbitrators cannot pick a midpoint.

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