[beorn]

I need to preface this by saying that, for all my OOTP playing, I no longer follow MLB and have lost touch with real life arbitration awards. But I'd like to check with other people as to whether these are realistic:

Player 1: DH with horrible catching skills
2018 hit .314 with 18 HR .401 OBP WAR 4.6; at end of season in November got $6.2 million thru arby
2019 hit .271 with 12 HR .371 OBP WAR 1.0; got $7.75 million thru arby
2020 hit .220 with 3 HR .297 OBP WAR -2.4; got $9.9 million thru arby

Player 2: 3B with good glove
2018 hit .316 with 4 HR .394 OBP WAR 4.7; got $4 million thru arby
2019 hit .287 with 2 HR .352 OBP WAR 0.9; got $4.8 million thru arby
2020 hit .245 with 3 HR .353 OBP WAR 0.6; got $5.7 million thru arby


Player #3 Pitcher with three pitches, low stamina
2018 9-6 with three saves in 102 relief appearances; 3.06 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 1.6 WAR; FIP 3.82; still automatic renewal
2019 21-10 in 34 starts; 4.03 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, FIP 4.48; 2.7 WAR got $5.7 million through arby
2020 9-10 with 2 saves in 16 starts and 51 relief appearances, 4.52 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, FIP 4.54; 1.3 WAR; got $6.8 million through arby

To my eye, based on 2020, it appears OOTP is granting substantial arbitration raises pretty much automatically, even when the player has a poor season (in the case of player #1 a humiliating season, during which not a single other team in the league would trade anything for him).

On the other hand, the arby award to player #3 at the end of 2019 seems kind of cheap.

So I am curious as to how realistic these arby numbers look to other people.


(Highest paid player in the league is at $30 million. Four others are in the 20s. The 25th highest player in the league makes $14.7 million.)