Sluggers Top Hurlers in Arbitration
NEW YORK (Nov. 2) -- The league's top sluggers were the big winners in today's arbitration hearings.  Cy Young Award winner Larry Dierker won a co-best $6.5 million payday, but Dallas' Willie Crawford, Los Angeles 1B Mike Epstein, and Rico Petrocelli were all awarded higher salaries than Chicago's starting trio of Wilbur Wood, Stan Bahnsen, and Bill Singer and Los Angeles' Fritz Peterson.  Singer, despite averaging 20 wins with a 2.44 ERA over the last four seasons, won a surprisingly low salary that was just the eighth highest.  More surprisingly, his $5.2 million salary award was lower staffmates Wilbur Wood and Stan Bahnsen.  Although arbiters were apparently impressed with the Bahnsen Burner's 11-1 record and 2.03 ERA in 17 starts before a torn labrum ended his season.

L.A. joins Chicago in the $15 million rotation club with Dierker ($6.5 million), Peterson ($5.5m, and Phil Niekro ($4.6m) each earning significant pay hikes.  But the single biggest winner in absolute terms was Willie Crawford, despite an off season.  The Dallas right fielder had a breakout year in 1971, raking .336-21-91 to finish third in batting and fourth in VORP, but his power numbers dipped last year after a broken ankle and his OPS sank 185 points this year.  But Crawford remains one of the key cogs in the Dallas offense and he still ranks #12 in the OSA Top Players rankings--good enough for the arbitration committee, which gifted Crawford a $5 million raise.  Mike Epstein also won a $6.5m award after leading the Outlaws with 95 RBIs and raising his average 30 points to .263.  Boston's slugging third baseman and perennial MVP candidate Rico Petrocelli rounds out the Six-Million-Dollar Man club after walloping 32 or more home runs for the fourth year in a row.

A record 72 players went to salary arbitration this year, winning an average pay hike of more than 50 percent, also a record.   Some other notable increases include Chicago starter Dave Boswell and Brooklyn right fielder Ollie Brown, who jumped from $300k to $4 million, Boston catcher Manny Sanguillen, who earned a $2.9m raise, and Dallas closer Reggie Cleveland ($2.85m raise).
 

72 players
		Old	New	Change	%
RF Willie Crawford	DAL	1500	6500	5000	333.3
SP Larry Dierker	LA	5400	6500	1100	20.4
1B Mike Epstein	LA	2000	6500	4500	225.0
SS Rico Petrocelli	BOS	6000	6000	0	-
SP Wilbur Wood	CHI	4600	5500	900	19.6
SP Stan Bahnsen	CHI	2000	5500	3500	175.0
SP Fritz Peterson	LA	5000	5487	487	9.7
SP Bill Singer	CHI	5000	5176	176	3.5
1B Rod Carew	DAL	4600	5061	461	10.0
SP Jim Palmer	CLE	5100	5000	-100	(2.0)
SP Bob Moose	SF	2400	5000	2600	108.3
RF Reggie Smith	STL	5300	5000	-300	(5.7)
SP Don Wilson	WAS	1500	4620	3120	208.0
SP Phil Niekro	LA	2000	4599	2599	130.0
SP Nolan Ryan	STL	2300	4400	2100	91.3
SP Ron Reed	ATL	2000	4376	2376	118.8
SP Dave Boswell	CHI	300	4200	3900	1,300.0
RF Ollie Brown	BRO	300	4000	3700	1,233.3
SP Froggie Hands	DEN	4300	4000	-300	(7.0)
SP Tom Bradley	ATL	2000	3734	1734	86.7
MR Reg. Cleveland	DAL	750	3600	2850	380.0
MR Sparky Lyle	DAL	2400	3600	1200	50.0
SP Ken Holtzman	DET	810	3600	2790	344.4
C Manny Sanguillen	BOS	500	3400	2900	580.0
SP Mike Cuellar	CLE	1700	3220	1520	89.4
MR R. Hernandez	MON	750	3200	2450	326.7
MR T Timmerman	ATL	1500	3000	1500	100.0
SP Rick Wise	WAS	3300	3000	-300	(9.1)
MR Frank Linzy	MON	3000	2965	-35	(1.2)
SP Nelson Briles	ATL	2000	2704	704	35.2
C Johnny Bench	DAL	2500	2250	-250	(10.0)
SP Lefty Carlton	ATL	2300	2200	-100	(4.3)
MR Grant Jackson	ATL	2400	2187	-213	(8.9)
SP Tom Seaver	MAN	2200	2100	-100	(4.5)
MR Dick Selma	BOS	900	1700	800	88.9
CF Jose Cardenal	STL	330	1700	1370	415.2
MR Jim Ray	MON	1500	1400	-100	(6.7)
MR Tom Burgmeier	LA	500	1200	700	140.0
SP Joe Niekro	STL	1000	1100	100	10.0
CF Bobby Tolan	BOS	1300	1080	-220	(16.9)
SS Gene Alley	WAS	1200	1040	-160	(13.3)
MR Danny Coombs	STL	1000	950	-50	(5.0)
SP Joe Coleman	BRO	950	900	-50	(5.3)
MR Paul Lindblad	SF	978	900	-78	(8.0)
C Duke Sims	DEN	876	800	-76	(8.7)
2B Vern Fuller	DET	450	750	300	66.7
2B Joe Foy	CHI	480	700	220	45.8
MR C Hartenstein	DEN	750	700	-50	(6.7)
RF Rusty Staub	CHI	554	600	46	8.3
CF Cesar Tovar	CLE	510	600	90	17.6
SP Bob Sadowski	BOS	450	450	0	-
RF Ron Swoboda	DEN	468	450	-18	(3.8)
RF Manny Jimenez	CHI	450	350	-100	(22.2)
2B Glenn Beckert	CLE	810	350	-460	(56.8)
3B Ken McMullen	LA	1000	350	-650	(65.0)
LF Curt Blefary	STL	350	350	0	-
LF Rico Carty	WAS	536	350	-186	(34.7)
MR Dennis Higgins	WAS	300	350	50	16.7
		107,352	161,299	53,947	50.3
Average		1,851	2,781	930