It's arbitration time

Jim Molony at MLB.com, writes about the salary arbitration that will come into effect tomorrow:

For some free agents and teams, December can feel like it does for last-minute shoppers counting the number of days left until Christmas.

Is time running out to get what they want?

The calendar's 12th month usually means tough calls for both sides, and this December should be no different - especially with tweaks in the labor agreement which could make for more aggressive shopping than baseball has seen in recent Decembers.

One change begins on Friday, which is the deadline for teams to offer salary arbitration to their players who became free agents. The players have until Dec. 7 to accept or decline. Previously, the deadline to offer was Dec. 7, and players had until Dec. 19 to accept or reject arbitration.

The process will have an impact on the Hot Stove landscape as some of the top names on the market like Tom Glavine, Barry Bonds, Barry Zito, Dave Roberts, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jason Schmidt, Gil Meche and Jeff Suppan will get a clearer picture of the 2007 landscape after the arbitration choices are known.