11.   -- Eliminating salary arbitration.

12.   Abreu will be eligible for salary arbitration this winter.

13.   After several furious hours of negotiations Friday, Todd Hundley passed up salary arbitration next month and free agency next winter.

14.   After this season, Grudzielanek will be eligible for salary arbitration and will receive a substantial increase.

15.   All that is good news for Valdes, who is eligible for salary arbitration after the season.

16.   Both players are eligible for salary arbitration, and if the Mets are unimpressed, they can decline to make an offer and let both pitchers go.

17.   But after his third season, Murphy was eligible for salary arbitration and things got messy.

18.   But if they had offered him salary arbitration, the worst scenario they would have faced was his acceptance.

19.   But Silverman said the labor board thought it was necessary to eliminate the changes the owners made unilaterally last month on salary arbitration and free agency.

20.   But they also are eager to learn which players may be eligible for free agency and whether they will have to endure salary arbitration early next year.