The basics are as follows:
- By noon, both, the team and the players' agents will have submitted arbitration figures.
- The players, in this case, means Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza, J.P. Howell, and B.J. Upton.
- At this point, the Rays cease short-term negotiations. It's fair game if Larry Reynolds calls up Andrew Friedman and says, "Hey, let's talk about that eight-year extension for Bossman."
- This is a team policy, not a league policy.
- Arbitration hearings are generally in February and the only two guys to challenge Friedman in such a manner have been Josh Paul (twice, actually) and Dioner Navarro. Neither won.
- There's a chance the Rays could actually save money going to arbitration, given that arbitrators look at things like batting average, RBI, and save percentage.