That's definitely what happened. Honestly, it's kind of amazing and sad at the same time to see an owner essentially said, "I'm not dying without trying" and pushing all his chips in.
Exactly. Arb/prearb years is the piece I expect the MLBPA to want to shorten, or, make richer each negotiation period. I'm fairly confident it has the last two CBAs so no reason to expect that to change for 2026
Ie your arb year salaries will always be different every year because they look at comparable salaries, so it's going to flux and be unknown every year (and contentious every year)