2015 MLB salary arbitration scoreboard

Of the 175 players to file for salary arbitration on January 13, 74 exchanged salary figures with teams on January 16. Among those exchanging figures were Mat Latos of the Miami Marlins, Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds, and Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets. As of the evening of January 16, 55 arbitration-eligible players remained without contracts for 2015.

Players and clubs are still allowed to negotiate on a contract, even after the swap of salary figures. But if the two sides can't agree on a salary, an arbitration hearing will be scheduled for some time between Feb. 1-20 in Phoenix.

In such a hearing, both sides present their case to a three-person arbitration panel, who ultimately pick one salary from the numbers filed, with no in between. In 2014, there were three salary arbitration hearings, with the owners prevailing in two of the cases. In 2013, there were no hearings, the first time that happened in the history of the arbitration process, which began in 1974.

Clubs such as the Tampa Bay Rays, Marlins, and Atlanta Braves employ a strategy of "file and trial." This means that if the two sides can't agree on a contract before the deadline to swap salary figures, the club will stop negotiating, instead preparing for an arbitration hearing.

The Rays reached settlements with all eight of their players eligible for salary arbitration on the exchange date, while the Braves reached agreement with one their two eligible players, signing pitcher James Russell. Starting pitcher Mike Minor filed for a salary of $5.6 million in 2015, while Atlanta countered at $5.1 million. The Braves haven't had an arbitration hearing since 2001, but prevailed against Minor.

The largest gap between player and team was Steve Pearce, the journeyman who enjoyed a career year with the Orioles in 2014, hitting .293/.373/.556 with 21 home runs in only 102 games. He asked for $5.4 million, while the O's countered at $2 million. Both are significant raises over the $700,000 he received last year. Pearce and the Orioles ultimately settled at the midpoint of $3.7 million for 2015.

Here is the full list of major league players to exchange salary figures with their teams, and the eventual settlement or arbitration hearing result. There were 14 salary arbitration hearings in 2014. Eight were won by the owners, and six by the players.

Of the remaining 41 players, eight signed multi-year extensions, and six more settled at the midpoint of the two exchanged salary figures. There were 14 players who signed for over the midpoint, at an average of 3.19 percent over, and 13 players who signed for under the midpoint, at an average of 3.68 percent under.