By JOEL SHERMAN
There are few stronger signs about how the downturn in the economy is impacting the market in baseball then the Yankees suddenly wavering — at least a little bit — on the decision whether to offer arbitration or not to Bobby Abreu.
For months that had been a foregone conclusion. The Yanks figured they would offer Abreu arbitration, that he would refuse and that he would then sign somewhere else with the Yankees recouping both a first-round pick and a sandwich pick in next June’s draft because Abreu is ranked as a Type-A free agent.
However, the Yankees have now become worried that the market is so stalled that Abreu just might accept their offer of arbitration with the idea of going back into free agency next offseason when the economy is better. Abreu made $16 million last year and had a strong enough season that he would not receive a paycut in the arbitration process. Thus, the Yanks might be looking at, say, a $17 million Bobby Abreu next year if he decided to accept arbitration.
That would force the Yanks to either pay him that amount and re-arrange their outfield with Johnny Damon moving from left to center and Xavier Nady moving from right to left, or trade Damon or Nady, or trade Abreu, with the proviso that they would probably have to eat several million dollars to make that happen.
The Yanks were scheduled to have a late afternoon meeting before announcing a decision that is due by midnight tonight. There was still at least a slight lean toward offering Abreu the arbitration, but it was no longer a no-brainer.
Meanwhile, the Yankees almost certainly were not going to offer arbitration to any of their other free agents, with the notable member of that group being Andy Pettitte. They are still hoping that Pettitte returns to the team on a paycut. He is balking at that offer, right now. The other Yankee free agents are Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, Ivan Rodriguez, Chad Moeller, Sidney Ponson and Mike Mussina.
The Mets were planning on offering arbitration only to Oliver Perez. Perez made $6.5 million last year and probably would double that if he accepted arbitration. But Perez is a Scott Boras client, who almost certainly will find a multi-year deal out there (possibly from the Mets or even the Yankees) even with the draft pick compensation now attached to him.
The other Mets free agents are Moises Alou, Tony Armas Jr., Luis Ayala, Damion Easley, Orlando Hernandez, Pedro Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Trot Nixon and Ricardo Rincon.