Arbitration seeing rise
Published 9:09 pm Saturday, February 21, 2009
Nick Markakis and Ervin Santana received the steepest raises among the 111 players in salary arbitration, a group that overall earned a record increase of 172 percent, according a study by The Associated Press.
The rise broke the previous mark of 169 percent set in 1999 and was up sharply from last year’s 120 percent hike, partly because the arbitration group started out with a lower average. The 111 players in this year’s filing class rose to an average of $3.07 million from $1.13 million.
Last year, the 110 players in arbitration jumped to $3.04 million from $1.38 million. The record average of $3.26 million was set in 2004.