Arbitration Decisions

[TakebackOPACY]

Ross Ohlendorf, coming off a 1-11 season, won the first arbitration case of the year. His record and the record of the Pirates as a whole will lead to articles like this one from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist (not sports columnist) Tony Norman.

While my reaction to Norman's article is, "What the...?" I get that his article isn't being written by a baseball fan (he says as much in the first sentence of the article) and isn't paying any attention to Ohlendorf's value in MLB terms. As a matter of fact, the author seems to have no idea that Ohlendorf was actually a good pitcher despite his record. Whatever. I suppose the article is quietly about the imbalance of what major sport pro athletes make while many people are struggling. And it's being written in a town where the team, similar to the Orioles but even more so, is struggling in this new world despite a proud and successful history.

Still, in baseball terms, Ohlendorf is a value. I look at the proposed contracts and think, "of course he won his arb hearing".