The Washington Nationals apparently are in an argumentative mood.
Rather than agree to a contract before salary arbitration with right-handed pitcher Cade Cavalli, they're going to an arbitration hearing over $75,000.
That's what ESPN's Jeff Passan reported late Thursday. The Nats submitted a value of $825,000 for Cavalli, and his side countered with $900,000.
Has Cavalli battled injuries and ineffectiveness since his days as a highly touted prospect? Yes.
Is that worth $75,000 and the potentially contentious hearing that can exist in the arbitration process? Doesn't seem like it.
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On the list of names Passan reported that will be going to arbitration, Cavalli is by far the smallest difference between the two values.
That's in part because it's his first year of arbitration. The Nationals are likely trying to prevent a snowball effect, where he gets more in the next two years of the process because he got more now, but it still seems like potentially negligible differences for an MLB franchise.
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It's hard to know from the outside how a negotiation between a team and a player might have gone before they submitted these arbitration numbers. Which side was playing hardball? Were the asking prices fluid or static?
At this point, it's kind of irrelevant. Cavalli will either make $900K or $825K to play the 2026 season for the Nationals. In the grand scheme of MLB salaries, it seems like a pittance to be haggling over.
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