The Pirates and Garrett Jones have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $4.5MM, reports the AP (via ESPN). The SFX client was projected to receive $4.4MM by Matt Swartz.
Jones, 31, hit .274/.317/.516 with 27 homers in 515 plate appearances last season, most of which he spent batting cleanup behind Andrew McCutchen. The left-handed hitter posted a .289/.332/.556 line with 25 homers against right-handers in 2012 and has been targeted in trades by several teams in the last 18 months or so. Jones was arbitration-eligible for the second time as a Super Two, meaning he's still under team control for both 2014 and 2015 as well.
Pittsburgh has two remaining arbitration-eligible players: James McDonald and Neil Walker. Both submitted salary figures yesterday, as our Arbitration Tracker shows.
