Nats win arbitration case with Bruney – nationals.com
Brian Bruney, late of the New York Yankees and now under contract with the Washington Nationals, lost his arbitration case yesterday. This saves the Nats a whole $375,000. As FJB points out, the Nats go to arbitration an awful lot. Somebody with a press pass needs to ask Nats president Stan Kasten if was that the business model in Atlanta during the 14 consecutive division titles run under his watch. Then they need to see what he says and run it against the historical record.
Given that the Nats have had a whole 2 seasons out of 5 that expectations were exceeded and three that were pretty bad perhaps it may be time to re-evaluate this policy. Arbitration is a tough process where the team has to list why a player isn’t worth more money. It is reasonable to assume that players who have been badmouthed by management and paid less than they wanted might not give as optimum an effort all the time. I’m not saying I feel sorry for guys like Bruney who will make only $1.5 million, I’m just saying it is the way it is.
