I've gotta say, I'm quite surprised by the amount of outrage that JJ Hardy's potential free agency date has generated. From what I gather, and I'm no CBA expert: if JJ Hardy spends 20 or more days in the minors, the Brewers retain his rights for one more season.

First off, I don't think Doug Melvin is going to do this to him unless he hits like shit in AAA. So its probably a moot point. But if it did happen, and Hardy doesn't make it back to Milwaukee...what then? Many people blogs and message boards have expressed extreme displeasure in this potential situation. While I do see their point, I don't agree with it.

In recent years, the Brewers probably could have handed starting jobs to Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks on opening day of their respective rookie seasons. Instead, they waited a couple of months. There may have been many reasons for this, but near the top of the list, the Brewers simply wanted to delay the start of these players' arbitration clocks. Once they reach three full years of service time, their salary goes up. Makes a lot of sense on the business side. And you know what? Every other team in baseball agrees - they all do this. Had Braun not signed a long-term contract, the Brewers could have easily paid him the league minimum for 3 1/2 seasons.

Hardy's situation is a little different, because the team would be delaying his free agency toward the end of his 6-year stint under Brewer control instead of the very beginning. That's a little unusual, but in this case, the money actually works out a little bit better for the player! Say the Brewers would have waited until June of 2005 to hand him the starting job. Assuming no contracts are signed, Hardy's annual salaries would look like this:

2005: league minimum
2006: league minimum
2007: league minimum
2008: league minimum
2009: arbitration
2010: arbitration
2011: arbitration

If we make a move to delay his free agency this season, Hardy ends up quite a bit richer:

2005: league minimum
2006: league minimum
2007: league minimum
2008: arbitration
2009: arbitration
2010: arbitration
2011: arbitration

Obviously, Hardy would prefer to hit free agency in 2011. But compared to what could have been (and usually was, for most prospects), he's really not doing too badly.

On a more basebally angle, you also have to ask why the Brewers need to keep a player who isn't performing on the active roster. While Hardy's defense remains solid, his bat just hasn't been there. If the Brewers think that Alcides Escobar gives them a better chance to win games right now, why should the Brewers keep a backup SS - and only SS - on the roster when they could have a more versatile player? Sure, it sucks for JJ Hardy, but perhaps he should have thought of that before he decided to hit .229/.300/.367 this season.