Now that the lockout has ended and everything is open for business, the usual off-season procedures will be crammed into a short period of time, as seen with the latest free agency/trading rush.

One of the more important facets of the off-season that will need to be taken care of is the salary arbitration negotiations. Normally, this takes place over a few months during the January and February months, but due to the previous lockout, this was unable to take place. Major league teams and players will now be pressed with attempting to begin these negotiations quickly with the potential of it leaking into the regular season.

If you are unfamiliar with how salary arbitration works, the official MLB website states the procedure as follows:

“Players who have three or more years of Major League service but less than six years of Major League service become eligible for salary arbitration if they do not already have a contract for the next season. Players who have less than three but more than two years of service time can also become arbitration eligible if they meet certain criteria; these are known as “Super Two” players. Players and clubs negotiate over salaries, primarily based on comparable players who have signed contracts in recent seasons. A player’s salary can indeed be reduced in arbitration — with 20 percent being the maximum amount by which a salary can be cut.”

If the two sides do not come to an agreement on salary, they exchange figures and then set up a hearing in front of a panel to determine if the value dictated by the players’ side or the team side will be the salary for the upcoming season. Primarily, statistics used from the previous season are used during these negotiations.

Generally an awkward process, most teams and players tend to avoid the in-person hearing by agreeing to a salary before the hearing date. Now presented with a truncated timeframe, teams will need to discuss or negotiate figures for arbitration beginning March 22nd.

As for the Mets, they have a flurry of players who are expected to have a few jumps in salary during this arbitration process. Here are the upcoming salary projections for 2022 (service time noted in parenthesis, with arbitration numbers predicted by MLB Trade Rumors):

The team has a major-league-leading 14 players who are arbitration-eligible. It will be interesting to see which players will come to terms on a number and which ones will possibly take it to a hearing. The looming possibility of a hearing taking place through the regular season should have an impact on how negotiations take place and how it could possibly speed the process through.

Based on MLBTR’s projections, the Mets have around $56.2 million in arbitration contracts. With the Mets close to the fourth competitive balance tax threshold of $290 million, a sway of a couple million dollars could push the Mets passed the Steve Cohen tax, which its namesake said the Mets will likely pass anyway.