As you know by now, and especially if you read yesterday's Chum Bucket where Jrsyeagle was the first to break the news on FishStripes, Dan Uggla won his arbitration hearing.
Thursday, second baseman Dan Uggla learned he won his arbitration case, securing a $5.35 million salary for 2009 instead of the $4.4 million the Marlins hoped to pay him. Uggla's salary will be more than 12 times more than the $417,000 he earned last year, making him the team's second-highest paid player behind Hanley Ramirez ($5.5 million).
The $4.933 million bump is among the highest for a player making the first-time leap from a six- to a seven-figure salary. The only ones to receive greater increases: Ryan Howard ($9.1 million), Ex-Marlin Miguel Cabrera ($6.928 million), Albert Pujols ($6.1 million), Prince Fielder ($5.83 million), Jonathan Papelbon ($5.425 million), Ramirez ($5.063 million) andBobby Jenks ($5.05 million).
"We felt pretty good about our case," said Jeff Borris of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, Uggla's agent. "Daniel over the last three years gave us quite a bit to work with."
No real surprise in the result. Actually, the only thing that was curious in the whole process was: Why did the Marlins challenge the amount?
They were lucky he didn't ask for more. While I'm glad Dan will get what he deserves, the sad part of the deal may come later in 2009, when the Marlins start shopping Dan to other teams. It didn't matter whether Danny won in the hearing or not, that shopping thing was going to happen either way.