Mike Minor wins arbitration case; Will make $5.6 million in 2015

The Braves' first arbitration case since 2001 has ended, and unlike back then when they won the case, this time the team lost. The Braves argued that Minor should make $5.1 MM, but the arbitrator figured otherwise, so Mike Minor will be making the $5.6 MM that he argued for.

Clearly, Minor's 2014 campaign didn't play a huge factor in this decision, since it would've been clear that he would've lost this case if the focus was just on 2014. Instead, since this was his first go-around with arbitration, his lovely 2013 campaign also came into play and since it's always possible that there could be a bounce-back season for the lefty, that's probably what swayed the decision in his favor.

Even though it isn't a surprise, the good news is that both sides have been thoroughly professional. This is evidenced by the fact that Minor bears no ill will towards the Braves after they assuredly ran him down in court in an effort to save $500k. From DOB's report:

"You never want it to come to that, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought," said Minor, adding that he came away from the experience with no hard feelings. "They didn’t say anything I didn’t know. It was one of those things, you just take it. They had a good case, we had a good case.

"During the case it gets heated a little bit, but at the end, everybody knows it’s business and the club’s trying to do what they can do to save some money and I’m trying to get more money. So it’s just business."

Meanwhile, there's also word that Minor will be healthy going into the 2015 campaign. Considering the fact that Minor was hampered by injury for most of 2014 (which clearly showed in his performance), this is good news since I'm sure everyone is hoping that he'll return to his 2013 level of performance, and Minor being healthy will go a long way in making sure that that bounce-back occurs.

Meanwhile, the Braves are now 15-10 all-time in arbitration hearings, just in case you care about the team's record in that sort of thing.