3:20pm: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times says Shoppach is guaranteed $5.55MM – $2.25MM in '10, $3MM in '11, and a $3.2MM club option with a $300K buyout for '12 (the option year has incentives).
10:30am: Rays catcher Kelly Shoppach signed a two-year, $5.5MM deal to avoid arbitration, writes ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Crasnick says the deal also includes a club option on Shoppach's first free agent season, 2012. Shoppach was acquired by the Rays with cash from the Indians on December 1st; the Rays ended up sending pitcher Mitch Talbot to Cleveland.
For what it's worth, Shoppach's top Baseball-Reference comparable is Colorado's Chris Iannetta. Iannetta will earn $6.1MM for his last two arb years, writes Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. Other comparisons: Chris Snyder earns $7.75MM over his last two arbitration years and Ryan Doumit gets $8.65MM. It's a reasonable price for the Rays, but they lose the advantage of going year-to-year with Shoppach.
