Arbitration hearings between MLB teams and players can lead to some awkward interactions at the negotiating table.
After the two sides exchange their figures, they often can come to agreements without the help of arbiter. If not, you have players trying to tout their worth and squeeze every dollar out of their team’s ownership, while the club offers reasons why the player isn’t worth so much money.
In many situations, this process has benefited baseball clubs, who have a lot of leverage and have been able to sign players to team-friendly deals.
Heading into 2014, there are a lot of players who have been affected by this process and aren’t scheduled to make as much money as they deserve. As such, here’s a look around the diamond at baseball’s most underpaid players that are at least in their arbitration years or have negotiated MLB deals with their respective clubs.
All stats via Baseball Reference. Contract info via Cot’s Baseball Contracts.