Thursday was the deadline for salary figures to be exchanged between teams and arbitration-eligible players in Major League Baseball and that generally provides a few notable issues between team and player. On the list this year would be the Detroit Tigers and former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize.
Mize’s agency asked for $840,000. The Tigers, meanwhile are reportedly looking to pay Mize $815,000 (just $75,000 above the league minimum) this season. In the overwhelming majority of cases when the figure are this close, the team and player negotiate and end up settling before heading to the arbitration table. Why wouldn’t they? It’s an awkward situation for the team to plead its case as to why the player isn’t as good as he thinks he is with the player sitting right there. It can lead to sour grapes moving into the future when it comes to possible contract extension talks.
For now, it seems like the two sides are at an impasse over $25,000. That’s a big number for many of us. For the Tigers — with a valuation of $1.45 billion — it’s like one of us fighting over, say, $25. Or less.
Mize was the top draft pick out of Auburn in 2018. He reached the majors in 2020 and joined the rotation on a full-time basis in 2021. In his 30 starts, he went 7-9 with a 3.71 ERA (114 ERA+), 1.14 WHIP and 118 strikeouts in 150 1/3 innings. That was all worth 3.3 WAR, which is a quality season from a mid-rotation starter.
Of course, a mitigating factor here is Mize had to undergo Tommy John surgery after two starts in 2022 and missed all of 2023. The Tigers could argue that Mize didn’t help them at all in 2023 and still made $714,200 while Mize’s representatives could point out he greatly out-pitched the $574,100 he made in 2021 and will be back to full time this season.
In the meantime, the two sides could still come to an agreement before actually going to arbitration. Surely they will instead of fighting over this relative chump change.
