Joc Pederson's Arbitration Process Has Been Ridiculous and Unfair Amid Dodgers' Trade Holdup

The possibility of Joc Pederson going from the Dodgers to the Angels would seem to be one of the easiest possible moves in Major League Baseball from a logistical perspective, right? The two LA teams play barely 30 miles from one another, after all. Boom. Pen to paper. Let's get this thing rolling.

But as Ken Rosenthal reports in The Athletic, the situation regarding Pederson is actually a major mess given that he's in the middle of a salary arbitration standoff with the Dodgers.

Yes, he's stuck in the ridiculous position of trying to argue his highest possible monetary value to a team that's reportedly trying to deal him right out LA County. At the same time, Rosenthal notes, the rules of the proceedings prevent Pederson and his representatives from stating a case for what he'd be worth as a member of the Angels, for whom he'd likely earn more plate appearances.

This trade is not directly related to a different and more famous one that's currently in a holdup -- the three-team blockbuster meant to send Mookie Betts from the Red Sox to the Dodgers -- but it has similarly angered the MLB Players Association.

With so many livelihoods affected, the arbitration process has rarely looked so absurd, convoluted, or altogether needless. It really makes a fan wonder why players aren't allowed to enter free agency straight away instead of playing financial rock-paper-scissors with their clubs, which is more or less what this process is.

Get it together, people.