Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
During the lockout, when players fought for more money for young players, a veteran front office executive told me they already owned a tool to achieve that very goal.
“More five-year superstar players should go to hearing [in arbitration] at a high number,” the source said. “Even if you win a low percentage of those cases, the wins set new precedents. Five-year players in arbitration can compare themselves to players in any service class. So Trea Turner can compare himself to Francisco Lindor. And those wins set the bar for the group behind them.”
