OC Register: Angels’ Brian Goodwin says he has no hard feelings after arbitration hearing

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. >> Brian Goodwin spent part of his day on Tuesday wearing a suit, sitting in a hotel conference room and hearing about what was wrong with him as a baseball player.

“It’s not a pretty process,” Goodwin said Wednesday in his return to Angels camp, a day after he became the first Angels player since 2011 to go to an arbitration hearing. “It’s not a pretty process by any means, but I think it’s necessary for players to have a voice to be able to stand up for themselves, what they believe in their value and be able to say who they are and what they think about themselves.”

The verdict of the panel of arbitrators was expected to come down sometime Wednesday, with Goodwin either being awarded the $2.2 million he sought or the $1.85 million the Angels offered for his 2020 salary.

Almost all arbitration cases get settled before they reach a hearing, precisely because teams and players both choose to avoid the potentially awkward situation that occurred on Wednesday.

The Angels used a team of third-party lawyers that they had hired for the case. General manager Billy Eppler said he was not present for the hearing, but at least a couple other Angels executives were, Goodwin said. Goodwin was there, along the lawyers from his agent’s company.

As of Wednesday morning, Goodwin said he had no feel at all for which side would prevail.

“They talked about a lot of your strengths, but you hear about a lot of your weaknesses,” Goodwin said. “A lot of  stuff that you can be doing better. Now, it’s no longer a secret. You know exactly what those things are. You know what they are looking for. You know what you need to do.  There’s really no excuse but to go out and get better.”

Goodwin, 29, is coming off his best season in the big leagues, having hit .262 with 17 homers and a .796 OPS in 136 games. He had never played more than 75 games in a big league season, but the injury to Justin Upton just before opening day opened the door for extended playing time.

“I played the game the right way, for a long time, when I had the opportunity,” Goodwin said. “There has been a trend in my career that when I play, I play well. I put up numbers. There’s nothing anyone can say to argue that. The numbers and stuff are there. So I think we just told them what it was. We did what we were supposed to do. That’s why I was still there at the end of the year. A lot of people — the front office and teammates — said a lot of good stuff, from the day I stepped in the locker room, stepped on the field. I think that should carry a lot of weight.”

Whatever the verdict, Goodwin is going to be making significantly more money than the $583,000 he earned last year, before he was arbitration eligible.

The biggest downside to the process is that it leaves the possibility that there could be hard feelings on the player’s side after hearing representatives of his team essentially argue that he’s not as good as he thinks he is.

Goodwin said he doesn’t feel that way, though.

“There really is no room to have hard feelings or feel any type of way, because you knew walking in there what you are getting yourself into,” Goodwin said. “I had probably a month before the actual case that I knew what was going to happen. And kind of how business-like it was going to be. To go in there and actually hear it? Yeah, it changes a little bit but it doesn’t leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. They went in there to do the same thing we went to do, go to war.”

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[tdawg87]

He is SO leaving for free agency.