According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal amongst a litany of other sources have said that Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero will be the first player this season to head to arbitration to hammer out his contract from the upcoming season.
Montero, 28, asked for $6.8 million, more than twice as much as his 2011 salary of $3.2 million, while the D0backs made a counter offer of $5.4 million. Their hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning, with a possible settlement beforehand or long-term contract arising is likely off the table according to sources near the situation.
According to Rosenthal, Arizona views current Texas Rangers catcher Mike Napoli as the most comparable player to the situation of Montero. Montero’s people on the other hand are trying to paint Montero in the light of a Yadier Molina instead of Napoli, one of the top in not the top catcher in baseball. Napoli was only a part-time backstop last year while Montero was there all season.
Montero will be free-agency eligible after the end of next season.
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