FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

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mattmitchl44
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FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

Post by mattmitchl44 »

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-pre-arb ... a-success/

Although a side point to the main point of the article, I draw your attention to the tables in about the middle of the article.

fWAR produced across MLB by various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~40% of total fWAR
ARB: ~30% of total fWAR
Players who reached FA: ~30% of total fWAR

Total amount of payroll across MLB tied up in various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~15% of total payroll
ARB: ~25% of total payroll
Players who reached FA: ~60% of total payroll

One way of looking at that would be: $ spent on pre-ARB players are about 5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs, and $ spent on ARB players are about 2.5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs in terms of generating fWAR.

If you were wondering why having a lot of young, talented ARB and pre-ARB players was important. :wink:
Carp4Cy
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Re: FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

Post by Carp4Cy »

mattmitchl44 wrote: 04 Dec 2025 09:04 am https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-pre-arb ... a-success/

Although a side point to the main point of the article, I draw your attention to the tables in about the middle of the article.

fWAR produced across MLB by various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~40% of total fWAR
ARB: ~30% of total fWAR
Players who reached FA: ~30% of total fWAR

Total amount of payroll across MLB tied up in various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~15% of total payroll
ARB: ~25% of total payroll
Players who reached FA: ~60% of total payroll

One way of looking at that would be: $ spent on pre-ARB players are about 5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs, and $ spent on ARB players are about 2.5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs in terms of generating fWAR.

If you were wondering why having a lot of young, talented ARB and pre-ARB players was important. :wink:
I wonder if there will be a major shift towards paying the "pre-arb" players significantly more than the minimum wage in the new CBA, as is done in the NBA and NFL. Seems necessary to ever achieve a salary cap.

in 2023, Wemby earned 8 figures as a rookie on a scaled draftee contract and that's in addition to signing bonus.

How would the value of top prospects shift if we had to pay them at least $5-10M as soon as they reach the majors?
C-Unit
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Re: FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

Post by C-Unit »

Carp4Cy wrote: 04 Dec 2025 11:31 am
mattmitchl44 wrote: 04 Dec 2025 09:04 am https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-pre-arb ... a-success/

Although a side point to the main point of the article, I draw your attention to the tables in about the middle of the article.

fWAR produced across MLB by various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~40% of total fWAR
ARB: ~30% of total fWAR
Players who reached FA: ~30% of total fWAR

Total amount of payroll across MLB tied up in various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~15% of total payroll
ARB: ~25% of total payroll
Players who reached FA: ~60% of total payroll

One way of looking at that would be: $ spent on pre-ARB players are about 5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs, and $ spent on ARB players are about 2.5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs in terms of generating fWAR.

If you were wondering why having a lot of young, talented ARB and pre-ARB players was important. :wink:
I wonder if there will be a major shift towards paying the "pre-arb" players significantly more than the minimum wage in the new CBA, as is done in the NBA and NFL. Seems necessary to ever achieve a salary cap.

in 2023, Wemby earned 8 figures as a rookie on a scaled draftee contract and that's in addition to signing bonus.

How would the value of top prospects shift if we had to pay them at least $5-10M as soon as they reach the majors?
I wonder what that would do to free agent contracts
Carp4Cy
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Posts: 3002
Joined: 23 May 2024 14:38 pm

Re: FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

Post by Carp4Cy »

C-Unit wrote: 04 Dec 2025 11:37 am
Carp4Cy wrote: 04 Dec 2025 11:31 am
mattmitchl44 wrote: 04 Dec 2025 09:04 am https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-pre-arb ... a-success/

Although a side point to the main point of the article, I draw your attention to the tables in about the middle of the article.

fWAR produced across MLB by various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~40% of total fWAR
ARB: ~30% of total fWAR
Players who reached FA: ~30% of total fWAR

Total amount of payroll across MLB tied up in various classes of players:

Pre-ARB: ~15% of total payroll
ARB: ~25% of total payroll
Players who reached FA: ~60% of total payroll

One way of looking at that would be: $ spent on pre-ARB players are about 5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs, and $ spent on ARB players are about 2.5 times more effective than $ spent on FAs in terms of generating fWAR.

If you were wondering why having a lot of young, talented ARB and pre-ARB players was important. :wink:
I wonder if there will be a major shift towards paying the "pre-arb" players significantly more than the minimum wage in the new CBA, as is done in the NBA and NFL. Seems necessary to ever achieve a salary cap.

in 2023, Wemby earned 8 figures as a rookie on a scaled draftee contract and that's in addition to signing bonus.

How would the value of top prospects shift if we had to pay them at least $5-10M as soon as they reach the majors?
I wonder what that would do to free agent contracts
A salary cap would have the greatest effect on limiting the FA value. Depending on where the cap is set...
Carp4Cy
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Re: FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

Post by Carp4Cy »

NBA players also can become FAs 2 years earlier Plus they often begin their pro careers Much younger that baseball players reach MLB.

If MLB shortens the pre-FA years from 6 to 4, that would have a massive effect on strategy.
Hoosier59
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Re: FG Article on pre-ARB, ARB, and FA players

Post by Hoosier59 »

You have fewer players making the big bucks, but they are more productive, thus their higher salaries. I don’t think the % numbers are that accurate due to there being way more pre arb. Players on teams these days.
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