Closer Blake Treinen won his arbitration case against the Oakland A’s, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). Treinen, represented by Sosnick, Cobbe, and Karon, is now slated to make $6.4MM for the 2019 season, with one more season of arbitration eligibility remaining in 2020. The A’s had submitted a bid of $5.6MM.
This is a notable victory for players, as Treinen sets a new record for year-over-year increase in salary for a second-time arb-eligible reliever, a raise of 4.25MM on his 2018 salary. The largest previous increase had been the $3.575MM raise Greg Holland received in his heyday with the Royals. Of course, the Athletics were winners here too, beneficiaries of a significant jump in production from Treinen this season, as their closer recorded 11.2 K/9 en route to his first All-Star appearance, a 6th place finish in Cy Young voting, and a 15th place finish in MVP voting.
Treinen, 30, came to Oakland after a disappointing start to the 2017 season left him sporting a 5.73 ERA in July, struggling to get swings and misses with only 7.6 K/9. The Nationals were counting on him to be a key cog in their late-inning bullpen rotation that year, expecting a big year after he established himself with 73 appearances and a 2.28 ERA the year before. Given the opportunity to reset their bullpen in one fell swoop, the Nats sent Treinen and two minor leaguers (more on them later) to Oakland for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson. The deal panned out for Washington, as the duo stabilized the pen en route to an NL East title. Doolittle ably stepped into the closer’s role, affirming himself as both a production and personality fixture in Washington.
The A’s didn’t do so bad on their side of the deal either, as Treinen put together a massively successful 2018 campaign as the A’s closer: 38 saves, 9 wins, and 0.78 ERA. The minor leaguers in the deal look like good gets as well. Southpaw Jesus Luzardo has a real chance at acedom, coming into 2019 as Baseball America’s 7th ranked prospect overall (subscription link). Sheldon Neuse, the other prospect in the deal, lands as the A’s 9th ranked prospect, per BA, as he looks to build upon his first full season in Triple A, where he hit .263/.304/.357 as a 23-year-old.
Notably, in the other arbitration case settled thus far, the Washington Nationals defeated spare outfielder Michael A. Taylor, who will make $3.25MM in 2019 after submitting a bid of $3.5MM.
Trade him!
Treinen is amazing. A workhorse, this is great for an A’s that should go to the postseason again…
Worst possible outcome for the A’s…
He was a massive bargain at either price but this is certainly the worst of the possible outcomes for them….
I think we all know the is a 100% change Blake ends the season in a uniform other than the A’s.
100% sounds like you lose a lot of bets. Only way Treinen is traded if the A’s have a terrible year and can flip him at the deadline for a top prospect. He is not a free agent next year so there is no need to trade him unless the team takes a big step back.
Lord Beane Sabermetricus lost an arbitration hearing to a mere mortal player?!?
Treinen is no mere mortal. He is a demigod son of Poseidon.
LOL.
Real name: Blake Trident
LOL!
Good for Blake. At the risk of being titled a “braggart”, I will say I met Mr. Treinen once. One of the only Nats players I’ve met. He was so soft-spoken and genuinely kind that, if it weren’t for his 6’ 7” frame, I would have not thought him a player! Nats didn’t know how to use his stuff— Oakland is helping him put it all together.
Baseball Reference says he is 6’5″. Was he wearing platform shoes that day?
When you meet a guy that size— wearing spikes and in full uni— (not to mention I’m only 5’11”), you’d think he was 6’7” too. Seriously. Those guys are massive.
Stickin it to the man
Couldn’t agree with you more. Blake is the man!
Beanes top 3 trade in his tenure. Especially if luzardo lives up to the hype. Neuse looked great in spring 2018 but had a rough season. My guess is hes tradbait eventually since hes blocked at every infield position