Salary arbitration in Major League Baseball is arguably more important than free agency, and this year the stakes may never have been higher as the downturn in the economy is front and center for all but a handful clubs.

On Monday, the annual 10-day filing period commences, and with it, millions of dollars will be in the balance. This year, it will be Ryan Howard who will once again look to leverage the system to the fullest. Last year, of the 110 players that filed for salary arbitration, it was Howard that took his case all the way to hearing, and won his case with the Phillies, landing the largest sum of the 2008 arbitration class. The case was a windfall for Howard, and a substantial loss for the Phillies. Howard’s figure was $10 million compared to the Phillies’ offering figure of $7 million. Howard had made $900,000 in 2007, or a raise of 1,011 percent after winning his case.

And Howard isn’t the only Phillie player up for arbitration in 2009. According to Jeff Euston of Cot’s Contracts, the Phillies have the most players that are salary arbitration eligible in all of MLB at 10 (Joe Blanton, 4.016 of service time - Eric Bruntlett, 4.102 of ST - Clay Condrey, 3.012 of ST, Greg Dobbs of ST - Chad Durbin, 4.102 of ST - Cole Hamels, 2.143 of ST - Ryan Howard, 3.145 of ST - Ryan Madson, 5.027 of ST - Shane Victorino, 3.092 of ST, and Jayson Werth, 5.102 of ST)

Watching the headlines on the economy, and seeing how the free agent market has yet to break from its log jam, 2009 – maybe more than any year in recent memory – contract agreements with arb eligible players should be brokered in advance of figures being exchanged, or if at that stage, in advance of hearing.

Salary arbitration is truly an advantage almost exclusive to the players. Of those 110 players who filed last year, the average salary for them jumped from $1.38 million to $3.04 million. Of the 48 players that exchanged figures (see a detailed break down of last year’s filings), the increase in salary was 220 percent.

Is it any wonder that most clubs work our contract agreements in advance of hearings before a panel of arbitors, where they choose either the club figure or player figure only? Most players accept contract extensions at, or below the mid-point between the club and player figures. Clubs, while offering players most assuredly a sizable increase from the salary the player was making the year prior, cut their losses with the moral victory that at least they met the player in the middle or somewhere closer to what they planned to offer.

So, starting Monday, and through the 10-day filing period, watch the flurry of deals get done with those that file for salary arbitration. Players, as well as clubs, are closely watching the FA market, seeing that money and years are expected to be down for all but the marquee players. Eagerness to get inked for extra years, as opposed to gambling in arbitration may set the rank and file in motion (last year, of the 110 players that filed for salary arbitration, sixteen players received multi-year contracts, two more than 2007 and the most since 17 in 2002).

Look for salary arbitration updates regularly leading up to the beginning of season on The Biz of Baseball

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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One of the most highly anticipated television channel launches in history occurred on Thursday, when the MLB Network went live at 6pm ET. The 24-hour dedicated channel long sought after by Major League Baseball arrived with Commissioner Bud Selig addressing fans, and then an introduction to MLBN’s studios were handled well by on-air hosts Victor Rojas, Harold Reynolds, Al Leiter, Barry Larkin, Trenni Kusnierek, and Hazel Mae.

Hot Stove, MLB Network’s off-season program, was handled well from an on-air talent perspective, as well as the technical side. The two main studios, built at MLB Network’s home at the former MSNBC studios in Secaucus, N.J. were top-notch, with Studio 42 being the highlight. Studio 42, named for Jackie Robinson’s jersey number, is a scaled down “ballpark” and allowed Reynolds, Leiter, Larkin, and guest host Jimmy Rollins to break down Robinson’s signature play, stealing home on Yogi Berra during the 1955 World Series.

As for the on-air talent, the chemistry between Reynolds, Larkin, and Leiter was lively and natural. The banter between the analysts seemed to take a play out of TNT’s NBA coverage playbook by adding a good dose of personality to the mix, something absent from TBS’ studio crew.

But, the highlight of Day One for MLB Network was the rebroadcast of Don Larsen’s 1956 World Series perfect game. Whether it was planned, or a lack of advertisers for the channel’s launch, MLBN offered fans the original commercials by Gillette and Baseball Encyclopedia that aired over 50 years ago every half inning, while showing an in-studio interview, hosted by Bob Costas with Yogi Berra and Larsen at the top of each inning, and current advertisers, such as Budweiser and Pepsi.

By not clouding the game with too much commentary, and limited ads, fans were treated something truly rare without it being overshadowed.

All told, MLB Network’s launch came off clean, and without hitches, a good sign for fans looking for a 24/7/365 option on television. The only issues that came about were not on the screen, but rather the hiccups of launching the largest cable channel in history (see Subscriber Confusion Surrounds MLB Network Launch), but overall, MLB Network could be headed for a home run.

What the future will be like for MLBN, will define them. If delicate subjects such as Clemens' and Bonds' legal cases, possible labor disputes, and some of baseball's missteps, such as collusion are avoided entirely, then MLBN could simply be viewed as a mouthpiece for the league. For now, the MLB Network offers a chance to enjoy baseball during a time when it is normally still a far off dream on television.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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Jeff Moorad, the CEO and general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks resigned Friday in order to pursue the purchase of the San Diego Padres. In Moorad’s place, Diamondback’s president Derrick Hall was promoted to CEO, said managing general partner Ken Kendrick to the Associated Press.

(Read The Biz of Baseball interview with Jeff Moorad)

According to The AP, Moorad will continue to retain an ownership stake in the D-Backs, until such time as MLB rules require him to sell the stake, should he and his ownership group acquire the majority ownership stake in the Padres.

"I can confirm that Jeff has resigned and is interested in the Padres," San Diego owner John Moores wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

John Moores, mired in divorce proceedings and coming off a 99-loss season, officially announced in mid-December that he had hired Goldman Sachs in an effort to sell the team to potential buyers. Moores, who has owned the club since 1994, has seen four postseason appearances (won the NL West in '96, went to the World Series in '98, and won the NL West back-to-back in '05 and '06). He also was able to get a new ballpark in PETCO Park built in 2004 amidst lawsuits and voter referendums.

The key reason for Moores' desire to sell centers on the divorce from his wife, Becky, with whom Moores has been married to for 44 years. The two own 90 percent of the Padres, but based upon community property laws in the state of California, Becky will be sharing 50 percent of the assets with John. Moores’ daughter, Jennifer, owns 5%, with the remaining 5% owned by San Diego-based businessman Glenn Doshay.

As for Moorad, he was the founder of Moorad Sports Management. He began specializing in athlete representation in 1983, with his main focus on Major League Baseball. Moorad’s reputation as a knowledgeable and respected negotiator has earned him a spot on The Sporting News’ 100 Most Powerful People in Sports on eight occasions, as he helped revolutionize player representation.

Moorad’s client base took off in 1984 when he was retained by Will Clark and four other members of the U.S. Olympic baseball team, each of whom were Top 10 draft choices. He then joined forces with Leigh Steinberg in 1985 to form one of the most dynamic twosomes in the history of sports representation, covering both Major League Baseball and the National Football League. The successful duo negotiated over $3 billion in athlete contracts throughout their 18 years together, including representing Pro Football Hall of Famers Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon and Thurman Thomas.

Moorad was the negotiator on a number of landmark contracts for a baseball client base that included Manny Ramirez, Eric Karros, Ivan Rodriguez, Mo Vaughn, Shawn Green and Raul Mondesi, just to scratch the surface of All-Star talent he represented. He also represented former D-backs’ player Matt Williams, who joined Clark in spring training with the D-backs as on-field advisors. Moorad represented more than 40 first-round selections from baseball’s annual First Year Player Draft in his practice, highlighted by breakthrough deals for  No. 1 overall selections Pat Burrell (1998) and Darin Erstad (1995), both draft records at the time.

Moorad was approved by the Commissioner’s Office as an owner and General Partner in the D-backs’ ownership group in August of 2004 and named CEO in 2007.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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UPDATE #1: MLB Network reports that the HD feed of the channel is available to all carriers offering MLB Network. However, not all carriers are offering HD to customers, at this time.

UPDATE #2: MLB Network reports that the channel is carried on "expanded basic or digital basic or its equivalent."

MLB Network hit the ground running yesterday, with Commissioner Bud Selig addressing fans two-minutes before 6pm ET (watch Selig's address), and then airing MLB Hot Stove, a show dedicated to the action in baseball’s off-season. But some of the approximately 50 million subscribers expecting to see the new channel were met with blank screens, a product of service level requirements, possible hardware issues, and in at least one instance, a local cable company not having digital service up and running by launch time.

The largest factor, for those that may be expecting to have access to MLB Network, revolves around what is deemed to be the “basic” package.  A key point for distribution of MLB Network stemmed from negotiations in April of 2007 for MLB’s out of market package, Extra Innings. While Extra Innings was initially going to be granted to DirecTV as a monopoly, eventually the cable consortium of iNDemand was able to broker a deal to continue to gain access to Extra Innings, but it was stipulated by MLB that MLB Network would also have to be carried, and on the basic tier, the most widely available. According to MLB Network, the distribution deal brokered with all carriers is that all must broadcast on the digital basic, or the carrier’s equivalent, a key difference from early reports. Those that have analog service, no matter the carrier, will need to upgrade.

The exception for the lowest level of digital service required for MLBN, at this stage, appears to be DirecTV. MLB Network is on the Choice package and above. Choice is the level just above what DirecTV deems as "Family", or the lowest level. ESPN, and other sports offerings, are not on the Family level of service.

A statement released from MLB Network said, “MLB Network successfully launched on January 1 in approximately 50 million homes.  MLB Network is carried by most major cable and telco providers as well as DirecTV on digital basic or expanded basic. As has been widely reported, MLB Network is not carried a specialized sports tier, but does require customers to subscribe to digital basic cable or the equivalent. Fans can consult the channel locator on MLBNetwork.com to see where it is available in their zip code, and should call their cable, satellite or telco provider if they have further questions.”

Some carriers may also not be fully upgraded to digital service. In Los Angeles, Bob Timmermann of Baseball Toaster: The Griddle (living in the South Pasadena area) reported that Time Warner customer service said 90 percent of the area was getting MLB Network, that most not getting service now would get the channel sometime next week, and some would need to wait until February 10th or 11th. MLB Network could not yet confirm whether this was due to parts of Time Warner’s service area being upgraded fully to digital service, while some areas may not.

There were also issues reported with Time Warner Cable in the Albany-Schenectady region of New York. New York Capital region subscribers there did not get MLB Network until 11pm ET, according to Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette. MLBN confirm that this was a technical issue at the time MLB Network went on the air.

Some Comcast subscribers the Portland and Denver area were said to be unable to catch MLB Network. MLBN reports that they have been in contact with Comcast in these markets and the systems were up and running at launch as part of their distribution agreements.

Reports have also filtered into the Business of Sports Network that some using TiVo players with cable cards are unable to access the channels listed. In the cases reported, subscribers had premium packages. Others, however, have reported that the systems are working properly. MLB Network is looking into the issue at this time. A technical issue has been reported in the past with premium channels and TiVos with cable cards, most notably those looking to watch NHL’s Center Ice.

The other subscriber dissatisfaction stems from lack of HD channels for some carriers.

While some issues are said to be getting ironed out, other issues may take far longer. HD distribution appears to still be in its infancy for MLB Network, and as mentioned in our interview with Tony Petitti, President and CEO of MLB Network, distribution in Canada and other international markets are still being negotiated.

As MLB Network enters its second day, we’d like to hear if you are having issues gaining access. Please post in the comments.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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MLB Network is set to air in just under an hour and a half (6pm ET), and with that, Commissioner Selig is set to kick the launch off by addressing the fans.

(To get background on MLB Network, read the interview with Tony Petitti, the President and CEO of MLB Network, and our MLB Network /  Extra Innings section of BizofBaseball.com)

To see Selig's address to fans, select the image below (Quicktime required)

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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Welcome to New Year’s Day, 2009. In years past, baseball fans would mark the change of the calendar as a milestone on the way to getting their baseball fix in a few short months. That all changes today at 6pm ET, when the MLB Network debuts to an audience of approximately 50 million households, the largest cable channel launch in history. From now on, baseball fans will have a location to turn to year-round to watch all things baseball.

(see a listing of MLB Network channels, along with a Zip Code locator to find out of MLB Network providers for your exact location)

The network, long desired by Major League Baseball, came to be as part of the negotiations for MLB Extra Innings with DirecTV, and cable consortium, iNDemand as partners in the new network in 2007.

In April of 2008, former Executive V.P. and Executive Producer for CBS Sports, Tony Petitti, joined MLB Network as President and Chief Executive Officer, where he oversees all day-to-day operations.

Petitti originally joined CBS Sports in February 1997 as Senior Vice President, Business Affairs and Programming, in which he played a key role in negotiating contracts for continued coverage of the PGA Tour and the network's re-acquisition of the NFL. In August 1999, he became the Vice President and General Manager of WCBS-TV in New York before re-joining CBS Sports in 2002. The six-time Emmy Award Winner was named Executive Producer in July 2002 and later appointed Executive Vice President in December 2005. In 2000, Sports Business Journal honored Petitti as part of its "40 Under 40" top executives in the industry.

With less than 24 hours before MLB Network’s launch, we caught up with Petitti, a man diligently monitoring the goings on at the net’s new home in Secaucus, N.J. The sound of a walkie-talkie buzzing occasionally in the background, Petitti explained how the network grew from approx. 20 to well over 150 today.

Topics for the interview include the process leading up to the channel launch, whether Bob Costas is being considered for the MLB Network, how Petitti is approaching programming direction as MLB Network competes with MLB’s broadcast partners, what the new network is doing to approach advertisers during the recession, where negotiations are at on bringing MLB Network to Canada and other international markets, whether there will be fantasy baseball programming coming to the new network, and what the long-range forecast is for MLB Network. - Maury Brown

Select Read More to see the interview with Tony Petitti