Arbitration

The Red Sox made a significant overture to free agent David Ortiz last night, offering him salary arbitration. Ortiz has until Dec. 7 to accept or decline. If he accepts, he would be Red Sox property for 2012. If the sides could not come to an agreement, a one-year contract would be determined via arbitration. The Red Sox also offered arbitration to righthanded reliever Dan Wheeler, a Type B free agent. If Ortiz signs with another team, the Red Sox would receive two draft picks as compensation.

Arbitrator Shyam Das heard arguments Wednesday from NFL and players union lawyers on whether Commissioner Roger Goodell can discipline players for actions that occurred before the league's current labor agreement was signed last August. The hearing, which stemmed from the NFL's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints, lasted more than two hours. Outside counsel Dan Nash argued the NFL's position and lawyer Jeff Kessler spoke for the NFL Players Association. The union filed a grievance after Goodell suspended four current and former Saints players earlier this month in...

Despite predictions that Jonathan Papelbon could be the first Red Sox player to go to arbitration during general manager Theo Epstein’s tenure, the closer agreed to a contract yesterday. Papelbon, along with fellow relievers Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez, are set with one-year deals for 2010. Those agreements leave Jeremy Hermida as the lone arbitration-eligible player on Boston’s roster, and the outfielder and the team exchanged figures yesterday. Papelbon signed for the second straight year just before the deadline to exchange arbitration figures, this time for $9.35 million with incentives that could...

Major League Baseball management has fired Shyam Das, the arbitrator who overturned Ryan Braun's drug suspension in February. MLB informed Das and the players' association of its decision last week. Das had been baseball's permanent arbitrator since 1999, part of what technically is a three-man panel that also includes a representative of management and labor. "Shyam is the longest-tenured panel chair in our bargaining relationship," union head Michael Weiner said. "For 13 years, from the beginning to the end of his tenure, he served the parties with professionalism and distinction.

LAS VEGAS - Jason Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, has a lot of confidence that his client will have some options in the free agent market before all is said and done. The Red Sox captain, as expected, declined salary arbitration last night, which will allow the catcher to explore free agency. It doesn't mean Varitek is out of the picture in Boston, but Boras always has believed he can create a market for a player and with the catching market depressed, Varitek eventually should generate interest from teams such as Detroit, Florida, and the Dodgers, and perhaps the Mets or Phillies.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff The Red Sox avoided arbitration with new closer Andrew Bailey, signing him to a one-year deal worth $3.9 million with an additional $100,000 possible in incentives. Bailey was seeking $4.7 million in arbitration and the Sox were offering $3.35 million. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports had the news first. Also, former Red Sox lefthander Dustin Richardson was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball after testing positive for mphetamine, Letrozole and metabolite, Methandienone metabolite, Methenelone and metabolite, and Trenbolone and...

DALLAS - David Ortiz will return to the Red Sox in 2012, deciding last night to accept salary arbitration and the guarantee of a one-year deal. It is not a perfect solution for either side. The free agent designated hitter preferred the security of a multiyear contract, while the Red Sox wanted to bring him back at a smaller salary than the approximately $14 million he could command via arbitration. But the overriding issue was that Ortiz wanted to return and the Sox wanted him back for a 10th season.

The Red Sox came to terms with Jacoby Ellsbury on a one-year deal worth $8.05 million yesterday, avoiding one potential arbitration headache. But there remains a wide gulf between the team and David Ortiz . The sides submitted their proposals to Major League Baseball yesterday, with Ortiz seeking $16.5 million and the Red Sox offering $12.65 million. If an agreement cannot be reached in the interim, an arbitration panel will hear the case next month. The Red Sox have not gone to a hearing with a player since 2002.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff Still no word from the Red Sox regarding arbitration offers. We'll pass along the news as it becomes available. The Sox are one of seven teams not to make their decisions known. The deadline is midnight.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff The Red Sox made a significant overture to free agent David Ortiz tonight by offering him salary arbitration. Ortiz has until Dec. 7 to accept or decline. If he accepts, he would be Red Sox property for 2012. If the two sides could not come to an agreement, a one-year contract would be determined via arbitration. The Red Sox also offered arbitration to right-handed reliever Dan Wheeler, a Type B free agent. If Ortiz signs with another team, the Red Sox would receive two draft picks as compensation.

A federal appeals court has ruled that former New Orleans Saints punter Mitch Berger's claims against an ex-teammate over a bogus investment deal are covered by an arbitration agreement and can't be resolved in court. Friday's ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says a clause in a securities brokerage contract Berger signed requires his claims against former Saints player Kevin Houser to be resolved through binding arbitration. Berger and other teammates sued Houser for allegedly advising them to invest a total of roughly $1.9 million to buy...

Austrian tennis player Daniel Koellerer became the first player banned for life for match-fixing, losing his appeal at sport's highest court on Friday. The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the challenge to a ban imposed by the Tennis Integrity Unit created by the professional tours and international governing body. Koellerer allegedly "made invitations to other tennis players to fix matches on five occasions," the court said in a statement. "The panel ruled that the tennis governing bodies had met their burden of proof.

After agreeing last week, in the wake of an elderly woman's death in a fire, to a plan that will keep Haverhill's rescue truck fully staffed until July, Mayor James J. Fiorentini said he hoped the agreement would help resolve years of acrimony between him and the firefighters union. But the chances of a lasting peace appear dim. Haverhill is considering how to respond to an arbitration ruling handed down March 1 that could force it to pay the firefighters roughly $2.5 million in back wages, considerably more than the $594,000 it had set...

After agreeing last week, in the wake of an elderly woman's death in a fire, to a plan that will keep Haverhill's rescue truck fully staffed until July, Mayor James J. Fiorentini said he hoped the agreement would help resolve years of acrimony between him and the firefighters union. But the chances of a lasting peace appear dim. Haverhill is considering how to respond to an arbitration ruling handed down March 1 that could force it to pay the firefighters roughly $2.5 million in back wages, considerably more than the $594,000 it had set aside in...

Rhode Island lawmakers have revived a proposal to give the state's teachers binding arbitration rights that local leaders say would only add to their towns' budget problems. The House Labor Committee took up a bill on the issue Thursday evening. The Providence Journal reports ( http://bit.ly/DfeZ7) the legislation would expand binding arbitration for teachers to include wages and other financial matters and would cover non-teaching staff including janitors. Providence state Rep. John McCauley Jr. submitted the bill, which is nearly the same as one...

Ryan Braun said he was clean and the only guy whose vote mattered agreed that he was clean enough. Case closed. Or not. But that's all Braun will be from now on: clean enough. He called the decision Thursday by arbitrator Shyam Das overturning his 50-game suspension "the first step in restoring my good name and reputation. " Good luck with that. Because it doesn't matter how carefully Braun chooses his words when he meets with reporters at Brewers camp Friday, or how he parries the inevitable questions about juicing for as long as he plays.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has vacated 11 promotions made by disgraced Probation Commissioner John J. O'Brien, giving a second chance to applicants who had long protested that they were passed over in favor of less qualified, politically connected candidates. The unusual ruling, which calls for an arbitrator to determine whether the right candidates were selected for promotions dating back to 2003, marks the first legal effort to erase O'Brien's legacy of political favoritism at the agency, which supervises criminals serving their sentences in the community.