Posey among Giants avoiding arbitration
Buster Posey won NL MVP honors in 2012 while helping the Giants to their second World Series title in three years.
/AP
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Reigning NL MVP and batting champion Buster Posey is among four San Francisco Giants to reach agreement on one-year contracts that avoided salary arbitration.
Posey, an All-Star catcher, will earn $8 million this season. Outfielders Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco and left-hander Jose Mijares also reached agreements, the Giants said Friday.
Pence, who came to the Giants in a trade deadline deal from the Phillies last summer, will earn $13.8 million. Blanco is due $1.35 million, Mijares $1.8 million.
Posey established career highs with a .336 batting average, 24 home runs and 103 RBIs for the World Series champion Giants. He did so only a year after a devastating, season-ending left leg and ankle injury in a May 25, 2011, collision at the plate with the Marlins' Scott Cousins.
Among other teams avoiding arbitration with players are:
Baltimore Orioles
BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to terms with catcher Matt Wieters, infielder Chris Davis and left-handed pitchers Brian Matusz and Troy Patton.
The moves, announced Friday, enable the sides to avoid arbitration.
Wieters made the AL All-Star team during a 2012 season in which he batted .249 at set career highs with 23 homers, 83 RBIs and 144 games played.
Davis led the Orioles with 33 home runs and 85 RBIs.
Matusz contributed in the bullpen during the 2012 playoffs. In 18 relief appearances during the regular season, the 25-year-old was 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA.
Patton was 1-0 with a 2.43 ERA in 54 games with Baltimore.
The Orioles have exchanged salary arbitration figures with right-handers Jim Johnson, Jason Hammel and Darren O'Day.
Chicago White Sox
CHICAGO (AP) -- The Chicago White Sox have agreed to one-year contracts with second baseman Gordon Beckham and outfielder Alejandro De Aza to avoid arbitration.
Beckham, who earned $520,000 last year, will earn $2,925,000 next season. De Aza gets a raise from $495,000 to $2,075,000.
Beckham hit .234 with 16 home runs and 60 RBIs last season. De Aza batted .281 with nine homers, 50 RBIs, 81 runs and 26 steals.
Chicago said Friday it has no remaining arbitration-eligible players.
rom the Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade last month, the 26-year-old Thole hit .234 with one homer and 21 RBIs for New York last year.
Cleveland Indians
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Indians signed All-Star closer Chris Perez to a one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration with the colorful right-hander and several others.
Perez, who had 39 saves last season when he also caused controversy with some pointed comments, will earn $7.3 million next season. Perez has 98 saves over the past three seasons.
The club also agreed to deals on Friday with starter Justin Masterson, relievers Joe Smith and Matt Albers, outfielder Drew Stubbs and catcher Lou Marson. Stubbs and Albers came to Cleveland last month in a three-team trade with Arizona and Cincinnati.
Terms of the other deals were not immediately known.
Infielder Mike Aviles remains the only unsigned player eligible for arbitration.
The Indians have not gone to arbitration with a player since 1991, when both Greg Swindell and Jerry Browne had hearings
Kansas City Royals
ANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Kansas City Royals have agreed to a one-year, $4.65 million contract with right-hander Luke Hochevar, avoiding arbitration.
The deal also includes up to $100,000 in performance bonuses. The Royals said Friday they have signed all arbitration-eligible players for the 2013 season.
The 29-year-old Hochevar made 32 starts in 2012, finishing 8-16 with a 5.73 ERA with a career-high 144 strikeouts over 185.1 innings.
Boone Logan
New York Yankees
NEW YORK (AP) -- Left-hander Boone Logan and the New York Yankees have agreed to a $3.15 million, one-year contract, a raise of $1.25 million.
His agreement Friday on the non-guaranteed deal Friday avoided salary arbitration.
The 27-year-old was 7-2 with a 3.74 ERA and one save in 80 games, tied for the major league lead. He can become a free agent after this season.
St. Louis Cardinals
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to terms with pitchers Mitchell Boggs and Edward Mujica on one-year contracts, avoiding salary arbitration.
The team said exchanged arbitration figures on Friday with third baseman David Freese and pitchers Jason Motte and Marc Rzepczynski.
Boggs appeared in a career-high 78 games last season and his 2.21 ERA ranked sixth among NL relievers. Mujica had a 1.03 ERA in 29 games after arriving in a trade-deadline deal from Miami, shoring up the St. Louis bullpen and not allowing a run in his first 18 games with the Cardinals.
Oakland Athletics
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The Oakland Athletics have agreed to one-year contracts with left-handed pitcher Jerry Blevins and first baseman Brandon Moss, avoiding salary arbitration with both players.
The A's have now agreed to terms with all of their arbitration-eligible players after Friday's announcement.
Blevins finished 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA last season. The 29-year-old has a 3.35 ERA in 214 career games, including career-highs in wins, innings pitched (65.1) and strikeouts (54) last season.
Moss joined the A's in June and batted .291 with 21 home runs and 52 RBI in just 84 games. The 29-year-old spent parts of five seasons in the majors with Boston (2007-08), Pittsburgh (2008-10) and Philadelphia (2011) before having his breakthrough season with Oakland last year. He had just 15 home runs and 78 RBIs in before the season.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Phillies have agreed with left-hander Antonio Bastardo on a $1.4 million, one-year contract, avoiding arbitration.
Bastardo was 2-5 with one save and a 4.33 ERA in 65 games last season. He struck out 81 in 52 innings. He ranked third among major league relievers in strikeouts per nine innings (14.02), trailing Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel (16.66) and Cincinnati's Aroldis Chapman (15.32). Bastardo also held opposing batters to a .207 average (40 for 193), including a .169 average (14 for 83) by lefty hitters.
The 27-year-old Bastardo was one of baseball's most dominant pitchers in 2011 until the final month. He had a 1.42 ERA and allowed just 19 hits in 50 2-3 innings through August that year.
Bastardo was the last remaining arbitration-eligible player for the Phillies this offseason.
Tampa Bay Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to one-year contracts with right-handed pitcher Jeff Niemann and infielder Ryan Roberts, along with outfielders Matt Joyce and Sam Fuld to avoid arbitration.
Niemann, who turns 30 next month, will earn $3 million the team announced Friday. The 32-year-old Roberts received $2.95 million plus incentives. Joyce gets $2.45 million and Fuld will earn $725,000.
The 31-year-old Fuld batted .255 with seven stolen bases and 14 runs scored after missing the first 96 games of last season while recovering from surgery to repair ligaments in his right wrist. The 28-year-old Joyce had 17 homeruns, 59 RBIs and a career-high 55 walks.
Niemann was 2-3 with a 3.08 ERA in eight starts. Roberts hit 12 homers with 52 RBIs for the Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Toronto Blue Jays
TORONTO (AP) -- Catcher Josh Thole agreed Friday to a $2.5 million, two-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, who reached one-year deals with left-hander J.A. Happ and infielder Emilio Bonifacio.
Thole gets $1.25 million in each of the next two seasons. Happ receives $3.7 million this year and Emilio Bonifacio $2.6 million. The deals avoided salary arbitration.
Projected as the team's sixth starter, Happ was 10-11 with a 4.79 ERA in 24 starts and four relief appearances last season, striking out a career-high 144. The 30-year-old is 35-35 with a 4.19 ERA in six seasons with Philadelphia, Houston and Toronto.
The 27-year-old Bonifacio, acquired along with Jose Reyes in the November trade with Miami, hit .258 last season with one homer, 11 RBIs and 30 steals in 33 attempts.
Washington Nationals
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Washington Nationals agreed to contracts with six of their seven arbitration-eligible players, including a $2,337,500, one-year deal with left-handed starter Ross Detwiler.
Other players agreeing to terms with the NL East champion Nationals on Friday, avoiding arbitration: shortstop Ian Desmond, right-handed relievers Tyler Clippard and Craig Stammen, and outfielder Roger Bernadina.
The Nationals agreed to a $2.5 million, one-year contract with right-handed reliever Drew Storen on Thursday.
Detwiler earned $485,000 last season, when he went 10-8 with a 3.40 ERA in 33 appearances, including 27 starts, for the Nationals.
Stammen agreed to a two-year contract after going 6-1 with one save, a 2.34 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 88 1-3 innings across 59 relief appearances in 2012.
The agreements leave right-handed starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann as Washington's last player who can enter arbitration. Zimmermann went 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA last season, making 32 starts and pitching 195 2-3 innings.
