Emilio Bonifacio wins arbitration case vs Miami Marlins

Emilio Bonifacio became the second player to defeat the Miami Marlins in salary arbitration in the past three days.

Arbitrators Steven Wolf, Mark Burstein and Sylvia Skratek decided that Bonifacio deserved the $2.2 million salary he asked for over the Marlins’ offer of $1.95 million.

Bonifacio is likely to be the Marlins starting center fielder to begin the season. If the Marlins sign Yoennis Cespedes, that role would likely go to him, moving Bonifacio back to his past super utility role.

Anibal Sanchez also defeated the Marlins in his arbitration case earlier this week. He will earn $8 million in 2012.

That arbitration decisions give the Marlins 16 players under contracts totaling $96.185 million for 2012. The team’s payroll was $57 million last season.

After the Marlins two losses, players and teams have split four decisions, with the Washington  Nationals defeating John Lannan and Tampa Bay Rays beating Jeff Niemann.

Since 2007, the Marlins have lost five of the six cases they’ve argued. The only player that the Marlins were able to defeat in that time period was Kevin Gregg. He of course got even by blowing multiple games for the Marlins.

In fact, according to Maury Brown, the Marlins are now a lifetime 3-7 over 10 hearings. That is tied with the Detroit Tigers (6-14) for worst in the league.