It’s often assumed that teams try to avoid going through with arbitration hearings because they involve saying negative things about a player in front of that player, but Alejandro De Aza says it wasn’t so bad.
De Aza lost his hearing with the Orioles last week and here’s what he told Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun about the experience:
Honestly, I thought it was going to be worse. It was something that they needed to do. It happened, and now [I have] a fresh mind going into spring training. ... I know this is a business and it is what it is. At the beginning of the season, they said I was going to be in arbitration. Win or lose, life goes on. Everything is going to be the same.
Of course, it helps that even in losing the hearing De Aza was awarded a $5 million salary for 2015 and based on those quotes he seems to have a pretty good attitude about things in general.