The Indians and closer Cody Allen have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $7.35MM, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Allen is a client of Meister Sports.
Allen, 28, is coming off an outstanding year in which he pitched to a 2.51 ERA with 32 saves, 11.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 68 innings of work out of manager Terry Francona’s bullpen. He takes home a significant raise on top of last year’s $4.15MM salary and comes in just shy of the $7.7MM projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. The Indians will control Allen for at least two more seasons, and he’ll be eligible for arbitration one final time next winter.
As can be seen in MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker, the Indians have now avoided arb with four of their eight eligible players. In addition to their deal with Allen, the Indians have agreed to one-year pacts with Dan Otero ($1.055MM), Zach McAllister ($1.825MM) and Trevor Bauer ($3.55MM).
I was extremely impressed with Allen last year. He doesn’t get as much attention as some other the other big time relievers but he was excellent last year and I hope for a repeat performance this year.
The Tribe are going to be a tough team to beat if they stay healthy, EE added to their lineup, a full season of Miller and Allen can keep the 9th locked down
Not to mention if Brantley returns to health, plus Cookie and Salazar. I also really believe that Shaw is underrated. He can be streaky at times but is an overall solid contributor.
They’ll have the 8th and 9th locked down with Miller and Allen. Also, the Tribe avoided arbitration with Danny Salazar agreeing to a $3.4 mil deal.
The Tribe also avoided arbitration with Lonnie Chisenhall agreeing to a $4.3 mil deal.
Other players are covered in the AL arb post.