"In a procedural move made late on Wednesday afternoon, the Phillies offered salary arbitration to free agent shortstop Jimmy Rollins, reliever Ryan Madson and outfielder Raul Ibanez.

All three players have until Dec. 7 to accept or reject the offer. If they accept, they will be under contract to the Phillies for one more year and receive a salary set at a hearing in February if neither side can reach agreement before then. All can sign free agent deals with another team before that Dec. 7 date and move on.

It would seem unlikely that any of the three will accept arbitration. Rollins and Madson are both looking for multi-year deals and could land big contracts when the market really gets kicking at the Winter Meetings next month.

The Phillies are still hopeful of signing Rollins to a deal, while Madson will likely took elsewhere after the Phils inked Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon to a four-year, $50-million deal earlier in the month after talks between Philadelphia and Madson broke down.

Under the terms of the newly negotiated collective bargaining agreement, the Phillies will receive two first-round draft picks — one of the team that made the deal and a compensation pick at the end of the round — should Rollins or Madson leave. If the Phillies didn't offer arbitration, they would have forfeited the rights to those picks."