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A.J. Ellis and Ronald Belisario filed for salary arbitration on Tuesday, in what was more of a procedural move and simply part of the process. They were two of 133 major league players to file on Tuesday.
Both Ellis and Belisario have two years, 151 days of major league service time, and are eligible for arbitration as a "Super Two," as they are in the top 22% of players with at least two years but not three years of service.
The next step in the process comes Friday, when the all players who filed for arbitration will exchange salary figures with the team. The player will submit one salary to the MLB Players Association, and the team will submit one salary to the MLB Labor Relations Department.
Back in December, after reviewing comparable players, I made educated guesses that Ellis would get paid $3 million in 2013, and that Belisario would get $1.35 million. By Friday, we we likely get to see just how far off I was.
Last year the Dodgers reached agreement with both Andre Ethier and James Loney on the exchange date, solving two of their three arbitration cases. The other eligible player, Clayton Kershaw, signed a two-year contract on Feb. 7, a week before his scheduled arbitration hearing.
The two sides can and will continue to negotiate, and will likely come to an agreement before having to go to any hearing. The last arbitration hearing for the Dodgers was with Joe Beimel in 2007 (Beimel asked for $1.25 million, and the Dodgers offered $912,500; the Dodgers won, and no hands were cut).
If the two sides can't come to an agreement, they will go to an arbitration hearing, to be scheduled from Feb. 1-20. Each side will present their case to a three-person arbitration panel, and the panel will pick one salary or the other, with no in between.