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Cubs Ace Jake Arrieta's Arbitration Hearing Set For Tuesday

(CBS) The arbitration hearing for National League Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta and the Cubs has been set for next Tuesday in Arizona, sources told 670 The Score's Bruce Levine.

Arrieta and the team are currently $5.5 million apart in their exchanged salary figures, with him asking for $13 million and the Cubs offering $7.5 million. The sides can still negotiate an agreement and settle before Tuesday, but if not, each will present its case and a panel of three arbiters will come to a decision on one of the two salary figures.

A player's recent performance and the salary of players of like accomplishment are heavily factored into the panel deciding what he's worth. From there, the standard for the arbiters' decision is similar to a preponderance of evidence in court. If the panel believes the player is worth more than the midpoint -- $10.25 million in Arrieta's case -- then it grants the player's requested figure. If the panel believes the player is worth less than the midpoint, then it sides with the club.

Arbitration hearings can sometimes be contentious between club and player as they argue in their own favor, but Arrieta has expressed little worry about the process.

"Obviously, things are going to work out," Arrieta said at Cubs Convention in mid-January. "That's never really been a concern of mine. I just want the ball in my hand. I want to toe the slab and get after it, and the financial things will work themselves out."

Arrieta went 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA in 2015. He's under team control through 2017.

The Cubs have never gone to an arbitration hearing with a player since Theo Epstein took over as president of baseball operations in October 2011.

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