MLB Trade Rumors reports that the Super Two cutoff has been set at two years and 115 days of service time. It’s the lowest the threshold has been set in a decade.
Super Two eligibility is a salary arbitration concept. All players who have zero to two years of service time are not arbitration eligible and thus have their salaries unilaterally set by their teams. All players with three years or more of service time -- but who have not yet reached the six years required to become unrestricted free agents -- are eligible for arbitration. By having one’s salary set via arbitration, their past performance is taken into account and they can begin to make some real money.
A small handful of players who have more than two years but less than three years of service time are considered Super Two players, and they are included with the 3+ players and get to go through arbitration. They go through up to four times instead of the typical three. That small handful of Super Two players consists of the guys who finished the previous year in the top 22 percent of service time among players with two to three years of service time. Depending on when that top 22 percent was initially called up, the exact level of service time to reach Super Two eligibility floats. Sometimes by as much as a couple of weeks one way or the other.
This year’s formula has it set at two years and 115 days. If you served that much or more, you’re a Super Two. If you served less, sorry, wait until next year. As MLB Trade Rumors notes, the luckiest duck in that crowd is Milwaukee Brewers’ reliever Josh Hader, who has exactly two years and 115 days under his belt. In the just-missed-it club: Arizona’s Luke Weaver, with two years 112 says, and Oakland’s Matt Chapman at two years, 109 days.
Given that Hader has been one of the best relievers in all of baseball over those two years and 115 days, he stands an excellent chance to make a good deal of money in arbitration. So, go get that money, Josh.
