I personally couldn't care less about this, but since some people do, here's a thread for it. The two sides are fighting over a difference of a quarter of a million dollars -- Jones wants $2.5 million, and the Pirates want to pay him $2.25 million.
One quarter of one million dollars!
I suppose it's a shame that they couldn't manage to settle this before arbitration, but I'm not ready to criticize the Pirates for that. A quarter of a million dollars isn't much to a major-league baseball team, but it isn't nothing, and I can't fault the Pirates for fighting for it. Arbitration certainly isn't the kindest process in the world, but Jones will get over whatever hurt feelings result, and if he doesn't, oh well -- the Pirates probably won't have much use for him beyond his arbitration years anyway.
And the rest of us aren't even going to remember this a week from now. We'll have moved on to discuss issues that will be more pressing, like the Pirates 'banning' some player from Twitter, or a local restaurant owner getting a call from Frank Coonelly, or the precise timing of a leak that the Pirates will raise luxury-box prices 19 cents in 2013, or a shocking new twist in the impending Chris Gimenez signing, or any of what I'm sure will be about 82 minute variations on the A.J. Burnett trade rumor. (And yes, each of those 82 will have its own thread, in case you're wondering.)
Anyway, Garrett Jones! Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars! Go!
UPDATE: The Pirates won their case against Jones, and settled for $2.5375 million with Casey McGehee.