Players Filing for Arbitration Get 82% Pay Raises

Baseball players who filed for arbitration had an average salary increase of $348,269 this year, according to an Associated Press survey. The 82% jump is the most since before collusion and will push the major-league average to about $600,000 in 1990.

The 159 players whose teams agreed to arbitration had an average salary of $422,735 in 1989. Their 1990 average, including prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed money, will be $771,004.

Last year, the salaries of players in arbitration rose 70%, following a 65% rise in 1988 and a 35% increase in 1987.

Using an alternate method of calculation--average annual values--the increase was even sharper: 102%, the biggest rise since 1981. Many players have structured their contracts to take lower salaries this season because of fear of a prolonged lockout or strike.

Sixty-eight players in arbitration doubled their salaries, 21 tripled them, five quadrupled them, and Mike Bielecki of the Pittsburgh Pirates increased his fivefold, from $122,500 to $675,000.

Bielecki’s 451% increase was followed by Ruben Sierra’s 355% jump from $357,500 to $1,625,000 and Fred McGriff’s 346% increase from $325,000 to $1.45 million.

According to statistical comparisons with recent years, the average salary should rise to between $590,000 and $620,000 in 1990. The exact number will depend on which players make opening day rosters.

Although 161 players filed, just 24 players had hearings; 14 won. Two players, Greg Minton of the Angels and John Candelaria of the Montreal Expos, were refused arbitration by their clubs and became free agents--Minton re-signed with the Angels on Wednesday--and the others reached contract agreements with their teams.

Players won seven of 12 hearings last year, giving them a better than .500 record in consecutive years for the first time since 1979-81. Owners still have a 164-139 advantage since the process began in 1974.

The 14 winners this year increased their salaries by 141%, $373,179 to $900,357. The 10 losers increased their salaries by 106%, from $441,700 to $909,000.

Collective-bargaining negotiations have deadlocked on the issue of arbitration eligibility. Players want the minimum service time rolled back to two years, where it was before the 1985 agreement. Owners want it to remain at three years.

Players with between three and four years’ service, almost all in arbitration for the first time, did particularly well, the AP study found. Their average jumped 158%, from $192,957 to $497,178.

Last year, the salaries of players in arbitration for the first time increased by 137%.

Twenty-two players who filed for arbitration got multiyear contracts this winter, up from 19 last year, 13 in 1988 and four in 1987.

Figures for the AP survey were obtained over the past two months from numerous player and management sources. They do not include any potential income from incentive bonus opportunities.

Eight Pittsburgh Pirates had hearings, the most for any club since the 1974 Oakland Athletics.