You'd still have to offer arbitration for the picks though, and if accepts, you have to give him a raise.
There would be no incentive for Konerko to accept arbitration.
An arbitration deal is only one year, so taking arb now and waiting for FA next year would mean that he would have to have ANOTHER great season with which to leverage teams into offering him big money.
So, if he has a great year this year, and he and his agent know they are going to get big offers from other ballclubs, there would be no reason to accept arbitration from the Sox, which would only result in a one-year deal and a slight raise.
