Mariners Avoid Arb With Jackson, Morrison, Ackley, Furbush
4:10pm: Jackson will earn $7.7MM, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.
2:02pm: The Mariners announced today that they’ve avoided arbitration with Austin Jackson, Logan Morrison, Dustin Ackley and Charlie Furbush. The team also confirmed its previously reported agreement with Justin Ruggiano, who also avoided arbitration.
Terms of Jackson’s signing are not yet known, though he projected to earn $8MM in arbitration, according to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Meanwhile, Mike Perchick of WAPT has the salary figures for each of the others (All Twitter links). Morrison will earn $2.725MM with the ability to earn an extra $25K for reaching 500 and 600 plate appearances. Ackley settled at $2.6MM and will receive an additional $50K upon reaching 500 plate appearances. Furbush is penciled in for a $1.3MM salary that contains no incentives or bonuses.
Morrison, Ackley and Furbush were projected to receive respective salaries of $2.6MM, $2.8MM and $1MM. Meanwhile, the Mariners noted that Tom Wilhelmsen is still arb-eligible, suggesting that the two sides have exchanged or will exchange figures. A deal could still be agreed upon before a hearing, however.
Padres Avoid Arbitration With Kennedy, Ross, Alonso
3:24pm: Ross will earn $5.25MM in 2015, reports MLB.com’s Corey Brock (on Twitter). He’d been projected to earn $5.7MM.
2:09pm: The Padres now announce that they’ve avoided arb with all of their eligible players, including Ross (all others had been previously reported). Terms of Ross’ deal are not yet known, other than the fact that it’s a one-year agreement.
1:40pm: Multiple reports indicate that the Padres and right-hander Ian Kennedy have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $9.85MM salary for 2015, with Mike Perchick of WAPT in New Jersey being the first to report the deal (Twitter link). Kennedy, who is entering his final year of team control prior to free agency, was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $10.3MM. Though the righty’s name was oft-mentioned in trade talks, it appears now that he’ll join Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross atop the club’s rotation.
Perchick also reports that the Padres have avoided arbitration with Yonder Alonso, agreeing to a one-year, $1.65MM pact. Alonso was projected to earn $1.6MM.
White Sox Avoid Arbitration With Samardzija, Flowers
The White Sox have avoided arbitration with righty Jeff Samardzija and backstop Tyler Flowers, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago reports on Twitter. This pair, along with the already-signed Dayan Viciedo, represented the largest expected arb payouts for Chicago.
Samardzija, acquired earlier in the winter from the Athletics, will earn $9.8MM in his final pass through arbitration, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. That represents a near match for the $9.5MM projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz. His relatively manageable pay rate, in spite of an excellent 2014, shows the importance of having a high first-year arb salary to build from.
Flowers will earn $2.675MM according to Mike Perchick of WAPT (Twitter link), while Swartz had pegged him to earn a shade over $2MM in his first season of eligibility. He had a solid overall year at bat in 2014, slashing .241/.297/.396 in 442 plate appearances and swatting 15 home runs.
Remember to check MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker for the latest updates.
Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Wieters, Davis, Tillman, Matusz
The Orioles have avoided arbitration by agreeing on one year deals with three players, according to reports. Catcher Matt Wieters, corner infielder/outfielder Chris Davis, righty Chris Tillman, and lefty Brian Matusz all have reached terms for 2015.
After missing most of 2014, Wieters will earn $8.3MM in his final year of arbitration, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). That represents a $600K bump over his salary last year, a much lower figure than would have been expected coming into the season. The 28-year-old saw only 112 plate appearances, slashing an impressive .308/.339/.500 in that short sample, before succumbing to right elbow issues that ultimately required Tommy John surgery.
Davis also will receive a much lower raise than seemed likely before 2014, in his case due to performance issues and a late-season suspension. He will take home $12MM, up from $10.35MM last year, per Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link). MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz was right on the mark with a $11.8MM projection for the slugger. Davis can also earn bonuses of $150K upon his 500th and 575th trips to the plate and $50K each for an All-Star appearance, Gold Glove award, or Silver Slugger nod.
Tillman, meanwhile, has settled for $4.315MM, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Connolly was first to report (on Twitter) that a deal had been reached. The 26-year-old becomes the second-highest-paid first-time arb-eligible starter in MLB history. As Swartz wrote recently, Tillman seemed likely to come in just under the record, and fall shy of the $5.4MM projection that Swartz’s model produced.
As for Matusz, he will play for $3.2MM next year, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. That constitutes a nice increase over Swartz’s projection of $3.2MM. Soon to turn 28, Matusz was again effective from the pen last year, tossing 51 2/3 frames of 3.48 ERA ball.
Marlins Avoid Arbitration With Cishek, Gordon
The Marlins and closer Steve Cishek have dodged arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $6.65MM pact, tweets Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds that Dee Gordon has also agreed to terms on a $2.5MM deal for next season. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected respective salaries of $6.9MM and $2.5MM for the pair.
Nationals Avoid Arbitration With Doug Fister
The Nationals and Doug Fister have agreed to an $11.4MM salary for his final year of club control, thereby avoiding arbitration, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Fister’s salary is an exact match with the projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
Dodgers, Kenley Jansen Avoid Arbitration
The Dodgers and Kenley Jansen have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $7.425MM deal, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. That sum falls shy of the projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, whose model estimated a salary of $8.2MM.
Rockies, Jhoulys Chacin Avoid Arbitration
The Rockies and right-hander Jhoulys Chacin have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $5.5MM deal, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Chacin, whom MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected to earn $4.9MM in 2015, will be a free agent next winter.
Brewers, Gerardo Parra Avoid Arbitration
The Brewers announced today that they’ve avoided arbitration with outfielder Gerardo Parra by agreeing to a one-year deal. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports (via Twitter) that Parra will earn $6.2375MM — a nearly identical sum to the one projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
Pirates Sign Jung-ho Kang
10:40am: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports (via Twitter) that Kang’s deal actually guarantees him $11MM. MLB.com’s Tom Singer tweets that the option is valued at $5.5MM and contains a $1MM buyout.
JAN. 16, 9:58am: The Pirates have officially announced the signing of Kang to a four-year contract with a club option for a fifth season.
JAN. 12: The Pirates and Korean infielder Jung-ho Kang have agreed to terms on a four-year deal with a fifth-year option, reports Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio (Twitter links). Kang’s contract, which is still pending a physical, will guarantee him about $16MM, according to Bowden. Kang is represented by Octagon’s Alan Nero.
Kang’s former club, the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, announced recently that the 2014 KBO MVP was flying to Pittsburgh to take a physical this week, and Nero himself told reporters last week that he expected an agreement to be reached with the club this week. Kang had reportedly been seeking about $5MM per year on a four-year deal, so it appears that Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington and his staff were able to talk Kang and Nero down a bit.
The 27-year-old Kang (28 in April) is coming off an incredible season with the Heroes in which he batted .356/.459/.739 batting line and 40 home runs in 117 games between the regular season and the playoffs. Though KBO is notoriously hitter-friendly, those numbers still garnered quite a bit of attention from big league clubs, even though some were clearly skeptical, as Pittsburgh’s $5,002,015 winning bid for the negotiation rights was relatively modest.
MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth recently penned an international profile on Kang, noting that Dan Szymborski, who created the ZiPS projection system, likened the KBO to a hitter-friendly version of Double-A. Within that profile, Charlie notes that an MLB international scouting director to whom MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes spoke opined that Kang possessed no plus tools, merely raw power that wouldn’t translate to games in the Majors.
On the other side of the coin, however, some scouts do think that Kang can be a regular in the Majors. ESPN’s Keith Law ranked Kang 15th among free agents this offseason, noting that he’d start Kang at shortstop and give him every opportunity to prove he belongs. Likewise, former MLB and KBO pitcher Ryan Sadowski, now with Global Sporting Integration, said that he feels Kang can absolutely be a regular player and hit about 20 homers per season at the big league level when he spoke with Jeff Todd on the MLBTR Podcast.
It’s unclear exactly how Kang will fit into the Pirates’ plans. He could supplant Jordy Mercer as the club’s starting shortstop, but Mercer is coming off a solid enough season that he could make a case to start in spite of Kang’s arrival. Kang has said that his preference is to play third base if he has to move off shortstop, per Jeeho Yoo of Korea’s Yonhap News Agency (Twitter link), as he’s more familiar with that position. However, Josh Harrison appears locked in at third coming off a brilliant season in which he was one of the National League’s most valuable players. Kang could bounce around the diamond in a role similar to the one that Harrison filled for much of 2014 and settle into a permanent spot in the event of an injury to one of Pittsburgh’s infielders or regression from Mercer or Harrison.