Arbitration is never a fun process in pro baseball, and the Texas Rangers usually do all the can to avoid it. In fact, the Rangers haven't gone to arbitration with a player since 2000, when they took Lee Stevens to arbitration.
Arbitration is just uncomfortable, as teams try to argue why a player isn't worth X amount of dollars, and the player tries to argue his side, usually meeting somewhere in the middle by ruling of what amounts to a judge.
The Rangers avoided arbitration once again, this time with a much bigger figure than Lee Stevens, when they agreed to a three-year deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $14-15 million with 23-year-old shortstop Elvis Andrus just before he was due for his arbitration hearing.
The Rangers would have surely argued that Andrus showed too much defensive inconsistency this past season, even though he clamped down on defense over the second half of the season. They also would have spoken out on his lack of pop, something the game's premier shortstops have now. Andrus is more of a throwback shortstop, which is great, but the Rangers would have used that to their advantage and probably created some hard feelings between the club and Andrus.
Now they don't have to worry about it, and Andrus will never have to face arbitration with the Rangers again. Everyone wins in that deal.
