Royals, Brown Go to Arbitration

I don't know how players can sit through arbitration hearings and not come away without a complex. Nobody really likes to hear about his weaknesses. And certainly not in a harsh or clinical tone as appears to be the case during arbitration hearings. But, to keep it all in perspective, we are talking about people who are being paid millions of dollars to play a game that we love to watch. So, while I can understand the hard feelings that sometimes develop during arbitration cases, this can also be a time for a player to hear, with brute honesty, about the areas in which he needs to improve and then actually do something about it.

According to Allard Baird, that's how Carlos Beltran responded after he went through arbitration with the Royals. "There are seldom any players who go in there and it doesn't affect them in some way," Baird said in Jeff Passan's column this morning. "Some positive. Some negative. Some where they question their abilities. The one thing I remember about Carlos Beltran was as soon as he came to spring training, he said to me, 'These are the things I'm going to be better at this season.' They were all the things we discussed in arbitration."

It's no secret that Emil Brown's defense is suspect. He made 12 errors last season—more than any other outfielder in the major leagues. And it's also no secret that he had a good year at the plate—nothing monumental (.286, 17 HR, 86 RBI), but he was solid all year and he was the feel good story of the Royals' miserable season last year—making the club during spring training when nobody expected him to.

You've got to a love a player who perseveres through the minors and then one day, in his early 30's, finds a way to make a major league roster and then he stays there all year. Does that make him worth the $1.775 million he's asking from the Royals? Or are the Royals offering a more fair salary at $1.4 million? Considering that he only made $355,000 last season, either figure is a significant boost. I'd like to see a player perform on a high level for at least two seasons before he cashes in (can anybody say Brady Anderson and 51 home runs in the same sentence?), but the market is such that Brown deserves a raise.

Now we'll see which side wins and hope that the fight doesn't have lingering effects.