So all eight arbitration-eligible players were offered contracts yesterday. Now comes the always-fun step of the negotiation in which the exchanging of numbers takes place until January 19. If no deal is reached by then, it goes to a panel of judges where the Astros make their case for why Player X is not worth getting the money they think they should. Wade:
"Tal, David Gottfried and Ricky Bennett will be gainfully employed the next couple of months trying to wind their way through arbitration or case preparation, and those are going to be real-dollar numbers. We think we've allocated the right numbers from a budget standpoint, but one quirky thing could impact us as well."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
