4:37pm: Furbush's one-year deal is worth $750K, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
4:13pm: The Mariners have signed left-hander Charlie Furbush to a one-year deal, according to MLB.com's Greg Johns (on Twitter). Furbush isn't technically arbitration eligible at this point, but Ruben Tejada's pending grievance against the Mets could change that.
As was reported last month, an extra day of service time would give Tejada exactly three years of service time. Furbush would then have the next-most service time among players with two-plus years, pushing him into the top 22 percent and making him eligible for Super Two status.
The Mariners have therefore avoided any potential issues by agreeing to a deal with Furbush in advance of that move. The 27-year-old Furbush posted a 3.74 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 65 innings for the Mariners last season, holding opposing lefties to a meager .173/.266/.236 line along the way.
Classy move by the M’s
It has nothing to do with being classy. The salary is likely lower than Furbush would have earned if he were arbitration-eligible and higher than he would have earned if he were not eligible. It is a way for both sides to compromise instead of letting Furbush’s salary essentially be determined by another player’s grievance that neither party has any influence over.
Still classy, Tejada very well may lose his grievance and then Furbush is not arbitration eligible. M’s decided they didn’t want a fight with their player so they just signed a deal. That’s way classier than fighting a grievance or waiting and hoping Tejada looses his.
Or Tejada can win his grievance and Furbush earns more than the deal signed now. Both sides got something here.
They’re avoiding a potential dispute. Say what you want but obviously they didn’t want to bicker over money so instead of waiting for the issue, they decided to compromise. May not be “classy” but I think this is an attestation to the respect both sides have for one another.
Also, I just met Furbush and he’s a really down-to-earth guy. I’m sure he’d prefer this rather than having to have an arbitrator settle it.
If tejada files grievance against the mets watch the mets trade for a shortstop or sign steven drew right now!!
do they really want to give up another draft pick (3rd rounder) to sign STEPHEN Drew?! Not sure that would be a good direction to take for the rebuilding Mets…
not a bad signing since we need more BP arms 9especially LH). now get Oliver Perez back!
I wish they would have agreed on a two year contract. I think Furbush is an essential bullpen piece to this team.
Agreed. If he can continue to be a valuable bullpen piece, it makes the Doug Foster trade look at least a little better for the M’s.
He’ll be arbitration eligible for the following three seasons so no worries there.
Geez, I usually feel like players have been around for less seasons than they have but it feels like Charlie’s been here for quite sometime. It’s crazy to think it’s that far away considering Walker is a FA in 2020 and has like 3 MLB appearances haha. Gotta love MLB free agency rules.
At first glance I thought that headline read “Mariners Sign Chone Figgins to One-Year Deal” and I nearly snapped the Christmas tree in half.
Furbush was traded for Fister…enlivening every immature baseball fan’s life
too bad, Furbush, Dickey and Fister can’t be on the same real life team…:). good underpriced signing by the Ms.
Furby is a solid lefty out of the pen, the M’s really did need him as their bullpen depth is lacking lefties.
With Farquar as the closer, Furby/Pryor the set up men, Medina and Wilhemsen for middle relief, and Erasmo or Maurer the long relief the M’s bullpen is starting to form. Still need another lefty so hopefully Oliver Perez can re-sign. Luetge isn’t very good.
I wonder if his wife’s name is Rosie…
They still have Lafromboise too (probably the reason Moran was left unprotected). Perez doesn’t seem essential. I would rather just add another strong arm with closer potential (RH or LH doesn’t matter) in case of injury (like what happened to Pryor last year) or Farquar stumbles (like Wilhelmsen did last year).