Arbitration avoidance roundup: Loose ends

By noon we’d already done a dozen posts about players and teams avoiding arbitration ahead of today’s deadline, so something had to give.

We’ll keep posting the more noteworthy cases, but here’s a roundup of the not-so-noteworthy ones that will be updated throughout the day.

• Gaby Sanchez and the Pirates: $1.75 million

• Antonio Bastardo and the Phillies: $1.45 million

• Gregor Blanco and the Giants: $1.35 million

• Sam Fuld and the Rays: $725,000

• Troy Patton and the Orioles: $815,000

• Joe Smith and the Indians: $3.15 million

• Tommy Hanson and the Angels: $3.725 million

• John Axford and the Brewers: $5 million

• John Baker and the Padres: $930,000

• Jonny Venters and the Braves: $1.625 million

• Boone Logan and the Yankees: $3.15 million

• Brian Duensing and the Twins: $1.3 million

• Luke Hochevar and the Royals: $4.56 million

• Matt Joyce and the Rays: $2.45 million

• Ryan Roberts and the Rays: $2.95 million

• Bud Norris and the Astros: $3 million

• Gordon Beckham and the White Sox: $2.925 million

• Ryan Webb and the Marlins: $975,000

• Doug Fister and the Tigers: $4 million

• Austin Jackson and the Tigers: $3.5 million

• Alex Avila and the Tigers: $2.95 million

• Alejandro De Aza and the White Sox: $2.075 million

• Rick Porcello and the Tigers: $5.1 millon

• Kendrys Morales and the Mariners: $5.25 million

• Chris Davis and the Orioles: $3.3 million

• Brian Matusz and the Orioles: $1.6 million

• Jason Heyward and the Braves: $3.65 million

• Matt Albers and the Indians: $1.75 million

• Kris Medlen and the Braves: $2.6 million

• Marco Estrada and the Brewers: $1.955 million

• Burke Badenhop and the Brewers: $1.55 million

• Ian Kennedy and the Diamondbacks: $4.265 million

• Brendan Ryan and the Mariners: $3.25 million

• Tyler Colvin and the Rockies: $2.275 million

• Ronald Belisario and the Dodgers: $1.45 million

• A.J. Ellis and the Dodgers: $2 million

• Phil Coke and the Tigers: $1.85 million

• Brennan Boesch and the Tigers: $2.3 million

• Justin Masterson and the Indians: $5.687 million

• Ian Desmond and the Nationals: $3.8 million

• James Russell and the Cubs: $1.075 million

• Jeff Samardzija and the Cubs: $2.64 million

• Alfredo Aceves and the Red Sox: $2.65 million

• Jason Vargas and the Angels: $8.5 million

• Edinson Volquez and the Padres: $5.725 million

• Andrew Bailey and the Red Sox: $4.1 million

• Daniel Bard and the Red Sox: $1.8625 million

• Franklin Morales and the Red Sox: $1.4875 million

• Andrew Miller and the Red Sox: $1.475 million

SAN DIEGO — We spend a lot of time on these pages criticizing Major League Baseball’s decisions. And yeah, they make a lot of questionable decisions (or logical decisions which serve questionable motives). But in the past day or so they’ve certainly gotten a couple of things right.

First was what we posted about last night: MLB moving to take marijuana off the banned substance list for minor leaguers. This, combined with the recent report that MLB/MLBPA are moving to a treatment, as opposed to a punishment-based regimen for opioids, shows that sense, as opposed to hysteria and optics, is beginning to move to the fore when it comes to baseball’s drug policies. It’s certainly welcome.

Also reported last night — by Kendall Rogers of the website d1baseball.com — Major League Baseball plans to move the amateur draft from the MLB Network studios in New Jersey to Omaha, Nebraska, and schedule it at just at the start of the College World Series. The move has not been officially announced yet, but I’d expect an MLB press release on it before we all get on our planes on Thursday morning.

It would be nicely coordinated too, Rogers says, coming just after the super regionals but before the actual CWS. This would allow the top players expected to go to all be on hand, either as players in the CWS or because, hey, they just got done and would probably be there anyway. It’s way better than putting a six guys in a green room in Secaucus. That’s always so awkward. You can tell they don’t really want to be there and don’t know what to do with themselves. In Omaha they’ll be among their friends, teammates, family, and counterparts. The atmosphere will almost certainly radically change for the better.

It’s still a very, very tall order to ever create the same level of interest in the MLB draft that exists for the NFL or NBA drafts, as the structure of college football and basketball and the fame of its stars is a totally different deal coming in. But this is a positive move forward for the baseball draft. Good job to whoever’s idea it was.

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