(Chase)ing dollars

Credit Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune for a great piece on Padres prospect Chase Headley. Sullivan's position is that the Padres are penny-pinching and that's the only reason Headley hasn't climbed to the big leagues yet.

To paraphrase, players become eligible for salary arbitration after three years of major league service, but some are lucky enough to reach that milestone after just two-plus seasons based on a yearly fluctuation in the cutoff. Sullivan writes:

The specific requirements fluctuate from year to year, but “Super Twos” represent the top 17 percent of those players with more than two years of service time and less than three, with the proviso that they log at least 86 days on the roster the previous season.

Last year's cutoff was two years, 140 days. Howard qualified with two years, 145 days. Yet the historic range is sufficiently broad – since 1990, it has fallen variously from two years plus 128 days to two years plus 153 days – that roster decisions become exceedingly delicate this time of year.

There are 122 days left in the 2008 baseball season, meaning the Padres are entering a safe-zone in terms of calling Headley up and still limiting his service time, thereby pushing back his arbitration eligibility until 2012. At the latest he should be on the Major League roster within the first couple of weeks in July, which is good news for the Padres as they can use some help offensively. It's bad news for Headley, however, as his big paychecks will by that time be another year away.