[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Posted from another source, but accurate nonetheless:

So, a team can prevent a player from being arbitration eligible for one year by keeping them in the minors on Opening Day and not calling them up until after 17% of that season's in-season callup rookies have been added to their respective rosters. Feel free to skip this if you've already got it, but if you don't, here's an example:

Player A is on an MLB roster on Opening Day 2009, as a rookie.
Player B is called up on April 15, 2009.
Player C is called up on June 1, 2009.

Assuming all three players are not sent back down:

Player A will have three years of ML service time following the 2011 season, and will qualify for arbitration for 2012 and free agency for 2015.
Player B will likely qualify for abritration as a Super 2 following the 2011 season, and will qualify for free agency for the 2015 season.
Player C will not qualify for arbitration until completing his third full season in 2012, and will not be a free agent until the end of the 2015 season.

so it doesn't matter when they will qualify for free agency but when they qualify for arbitration.