By Sam Bush
The Phillies and right-hander Zach Eflin are headed to arbitration, as a remnant of last winter’s lockout that left a couple of issues on the table.
Eflin wants $6.9M and the Phils want to pay him $5.15M.
Eflin recently spoke about the situation to Matt Gelb of the Athletic. “I know what I bring to this club every fifth day,” Eflin said. “And I see my true value more than what their offer was. So that’s really all I have to say. I’m curious to see what they have to say in a courtroom. So, it’ll be interesting, but I’m looking forward to it.”
In 2019 the Phillies optioned Eflin, despite the fact that he was pitching well, in order to get an extra bench player on the roster.
They had a double-header coming up that week, which lined up with Eflin’s upcoming start. Since teams are allowed to bring up an extra player for double-headers, they were able to option Eflin, call him up as the extra man for the double-header and then call him up for real for the start after that. Because of these roster shenanigans, Eflin ended up missing out on nine days of MLB salary, costing him about $20K.
“Players don’t forget that,” Eflin told The Athletic. “I’m looking forward to the hearing and seeing what they have to say about me. I feel like I’m going to learn a lot about the business side of the game.”
The 28-year-old is heading into free agency at the end of this season.
