The free agency period for Major League Baseball began on Saturday night at 9 p.m. PDT, with 148 players filing on Saturday night. Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors has obtained the official Elias rankings, used to determine compensation for top tier free agents. The Dodgers have a pair of Type B free agents in Rod Barajas and Hiroki Kuroda.
If a Type A or Type B free agent is offered arbitration by their former club, and signs elsewhere, the former club is entitled to compensation in the form of 2012 draft picks. Losing a Type A free agent will yield a first round pick from the signing team (unless the signing team picks in the top 15, then it becomes a second round pick) plus a supplemental pick in between the first and second rounds. A Type B free agent yields only a supplemental pick, with no cost to the signing team.
In the case of Kuroda, his contract states that the Dodgers cannot offer him arbitration, so the Dodgers won't be receiving any compensation should he sign elsewhere. But this is a moot point anyway since his choices essentially boil down to either returning to the Dodgers or going back to Japan.
Barajas made $3.25 million in 2011 at age 35, the highest salary of his career. He is a candidate to return to the Dodgers, though it remains to be seen whether or not the club will offer him arbitration.
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