In America, spring doesn’t truly begin until the first pitch on opening day. Unfortunately, the Major League Baseball lockout threatens to prolong winter. With players and owners struggling to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, a delayed start to the season seems likely.
To keep the game on the schedule, the national pastime should add a new twist to its own arbitration rule.
In the legal world, baseball is known for “baseball arbitration” — an innovative technique for resolving certain salary disputes. If a player and his team cannot agree on a salary, and that player is ineligible for free agency, both sides can submit the dispute to an arbitrator. Like in most arbitration proceedings, each side makes its case to the arbitrator.
