After starting the winter with 16 players eligible for arbitration, the Marlins have managed to shrink that number down to seven after the others were either signed, released or traded. But the remaining seven players will keep the front office busy heading into the Jan. 19 deadline to exchange salary figures.
Second baseman Dan Uggla figures to be the biggest ticket of the bunch; he's expected to command a salary of at least $4 million in his first year of eligibility after hitting 90 home runs in his first three big-league seasons. The knock on Uggla has been his defense -- a national audience watched him commit a record three errors in the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium last July. He made 13 errors last year, an increase over his 11 in 2007 but less than the 15 he made as a rookie in 2006. Still, the Marlins are convinced that better defensive days are ahead for Uggla, and they have refused to trade him.
The front office has said it likes the chemistry Uggla has developed with All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, and there are no plans to move Uggla to third base in 2009. After acquiring Nationals second baseman Emilio Bonifacio in a trade, the Marlins said it would be Bonifacio -- not Uggla -- who would get a look at third.
The other six arbitration-eligible players are right-hander Ricky Nolasco, third baseman Jorge Cantu, outfielders Jeremy Hermida and Cody Ross, and infielders Alfredo Amezaga and Dallas McPherson.
Two of those players enjoyed break-out seasons in 2008: Nolasco emerged as the team ace, going 15-8 with a 3.52 ERA, and Cantu hit a career-high 29 home runs.
If the Marlins don't reach agreements with the players by Jan. 19, an arbitrator will determine the players' salaries at hearings in February. Most teams continue negotiating with players up until the hearing date, but the Marlins have a policy in which they stop negotiating if no agreement is reached by the salary-exchange date.
