Last week, six Mets filled for salary arbitration, including Oliver Perez, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Sosa, Ryan Church, Endy Chavez and Aaron Heilman.

According to MLB rules, a player with more than 3 but less than 6 years of major league service, may file for salary arbitration.

In the arbitration process, both the player and the team submits a proposed contract amount, and an independent arbitrator chooses one number or the other based on what they believe is most "fair" given comparable wages among players with similar ability and service time. In most cases, the process never even gets to the arbitrator, as the team and the player will usually compromise on a new contract.

The Mets and RHP Aaron Heilman avoided the arbitration process last Friday when they agreed to a 1 year, 1.2 million dollar contract for 2008.

Similarly, Tuesday, the Mets avoided arbitration with OF Endy Chavez, by agreeing to a two year 3.85 million dollar contract.

Deals for the other four players will probably be coming in the next week or two. The Mets have not had a player go to arbitration since David Cone in 1992.