With the non-tender deadline on the horizon, expect quite a few players to agree to contracts for the 2022 season over the next 24 hours, avoiding arbitration in advance. In many (but not all) cases, these deals — referred to as “pre-tender” deals because they fall prior to the deadline — will fall shy of expectations and projections. Teams will sometimes present borderline non-tender candidates with a “take it or leave it” style offer which will be accepted for fear of being non-tendered and sent out into an uncertain market. Speculatively, such deals could increase this offseason due to a desire among players to avoid the potential uncertainty of a lockout and accompanying transactions freeze after the current collective bargaining agreement expires Wednesday evening.
View projected salaries by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:
Today’s Agreements
- The Athletics have agreed to deals with utilitymen Chad Pinder and Tony Kemp, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (via Twitter). Pinder will make $2.725MM, while Kemp lands a $2.25MM salary. Pinder, a career-long member of the organization, is headed into his final season of arbitration control. Kemp remains controllable through 2023. Pinder hit .243/.300/.411 in 2021; Kemp’s coming off a very productive .279/.382/.418 showing.
- The Pirates announced they’ve agreed to terms with outfielder Ben Gamel. The 29-year-old will receive a $1.8MM guarantee, with the opportunity to earn an additional $200K in incentives based on plate appearance thresholds, reports Rosenthal (on Twitter). Gamel is entering his final year of club control, coming off a .247/.347/.388 showing over 400 plate appearances between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
- The Nationals announced agreement with outfielder Andrew Stevenson. He’ll receive an $850K salary, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (on Twitter). The 27-year-old qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player and will remain under club control through 2025 so long as he sticks on the 40-man roster. He hit .229/.294/.339 with five homers over 213 plate appearances this past season.
The A’s are going for it all this year.
All the way to Las Vegas
All the way to Vegas
Right! Fisher is a scum bag!
Oakland Loves Las Vegas! They should become brother cities!!
700 something ops and solid fielding for 1.8 million sounds good to me. Hopefully at some point this season one or two kids emerge.
Gamel played every game like his hair was on fire…. $1.8M is a nice payday for his effort.
Gamel could be very useful on someone’s bench down the stretch. He might have been scrambling for a job if he didn’t take the money right now. He plays hard, but he’s about as fringe as it gets talent wise.
He’s a good 4th OF’er.