Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada is a super-two arbitration player this offseason. That status could earn him more money in arbitration than your average player receives, but it's also not how things should have gone down for him. At least, not according to Tejada, who is thinking of filing a grievance against the Mets for delaying his free agency, a move that could potentially cost him more money than his super-two status will earn him.
Ruben Tejada might file grievance against Mets
New York held Tejada in the minors, delaying his free agency, and the shortstop could file a grievance to counter that.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Bryce Harper could file grievance with Nationals
Harper and the Nationals could be headed for a grievance hearing next winter if they don't grant him arbitration eligibility. Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan reported this potential grievance, stating that Tejada’s reasoning stems from not receiving a call-up to the Mets until September 10, one day after four other members of their Triple-A squad were called up after elimination from the postseason. Tejada would finish the season with 171 days of service time in the majors -- or, one short of three full seasons, and free agency following 2016’s campaign.
As it stands now, with two years and 171 days of service time, Tejada is not eligible for free agency until after 2017 at the earliest, all because of that one day. Should Tejada file a grievance, and the hearing end in his favor, he would be awarded an extra day of service time, making him a free agent at the earliest after the 2016 season, and making Charlie Furbush -- the Mariners reliever next-in-line for super-two status -- a super-two player. Furbush finished just outside the top 22 percent of players with two-plus years of service thanks to Tejada's missing day.
While a grievance for this sort of thing is often nebulous with regards to denying a player super-two status -- the 22 percent market isn’t a hard-and-fast figure since it’s based on the percent of all qualifying players’ service time -- it’s not difficult to do the math and see why the Mets held Tejada back that one extra day, since three years’ service is three years’ service, regardless of what else is going on around the league.
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