Really, not much of surprise. Anibal, with the Players Union in his corner, filed a grievance against the Marlins.
The premise is that the Marlins optioned an injured player to the minors, a practice the Collective Bargaining Agreement prohibits. The Marlins' counter argument is that Sanchez said nothing about discomfort in his right shoulder until after he was informed of the demotion to Triple-A Albuquerque on May 4.
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Not being on the Marlins' disabled list during his recovery is costly to Sanchez on a couple of levels. Not only is he not accruing valuable major league service time, Sanchez's status as an injured minor-leaguer will cost him about $214,000. His split contract calls for a $381,000 salary in the majors and $121,151 in the minors.
The next step in the grievance process is for the two sides to meet within 35 days and attempt to reach a settlement. Marlins representatives as well as Sanchez will attend, but sometimes the meeting is left to the lawyers.
If that meeting fails to produce a resolution, Sanchez and the Players Association would file an additional grievance, and the matter would go to an arbitrator within a year. In most cases, Shyam Das would hear arguments and rule.
We have been through this discussion many times before and you know where I stand. But I will say this one more time, he is well within his rights to file the grievance.
What will come of it, we shall see.