Angels News: Going to arbitration is never worth it

The Los Angeles Angels did something they rarely do, and that's head to arbitration. They did this with not only one player, but three.
Brian Goodwin is the only player in recent memory who the Angels elected to go to arbitration with. Before him, you'd have to go all the way back to 2011 with Jerad Weaver. It doesn't happen often, because it's a brutal process. Players and teams should want to avoid it.
We saw what arbitration did with Corbin Burnes and his relationship with the Brewers. It's just not worth it. Hopefully the Angels learned this after going through the process with three different players.
LA Angels should avoid arbitration as much as possible
The Angels had eight arbitration-eligible players and settled on a contract with five of the eight. The three who they did not settle with were Hunter Renfroe, Gio Urshela, and Luis Rengifo.
The Angels lost the cases against Renfroe and Rengifo and won their case against Urshela.
Renfroe asked for $11.9 million, the Angels filed at $11.25 million. No compromise could've possibly been found? Rengifo asked for $2.3 million while the Angels were at $2 million. Really?
Urshela was the only one with a big gap as he asked for $10 million while the Angels were at $8.4. There still should've been a common ground of $9.2 million which ironically was what MLBTradeRumors projected.
The Angels saved a little bit of money because of the Urshela ask but lost two of the three cases. In doing so, the Angels most definitely fractured their relationship with Urshela and likely the other two as well. I get that Renfroe and Gio are on expiring deals, but you really want to do that?
By winning their case against Urshela while losing their cases against Renfroe & Rengifo, the #Angels saved $325k over settling at the midpoint.
— Beyond The Halo (@BeyondTheHalo) February 18, 2023
Is $325k worth arguing against three of your players in arbitration? I’d say no, especially since they have to pay legal fees anyway. https://t.co/861IOZAAKZ
In arbitration teams go on and on about the player being undeserving for the money he's asking for. What player will want to play for the team if the team devalues you? I understand ownership wanting to save money but the Angels saved $325,000. To me, the happiness of your players and just meeting in the middle is more important than saving mere pennies to any MLB team. $325,000 is half of a minimum salary.
In the future, the Angels should really do their best to avoid this awful process and just compromise.
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