Pitcher Odorizzi, Rays take salary dispute to arbitration

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Jake Odorizzi of Tampa Bay and Michael Wacha of St. Louis have gone to salary arbitration and are among six first-time eligible starting pitchers who could get decisions Tuesday.

Odorizzi asked arbitrators Edna Francis, Margaret Brogan and James Oldham for a raise from $520,700 to $4.1 million. The Rays argued during Monday's hearing that he should be paid $3,825,000.

Wacha asked arbitrators Dennis Archer, Gary Kendellen and Elizabeth Neumeier for a raise from $539,000 to $3.2 million, and St. Louis advocated for a $2,775,000 salary.

Lawyers for players and teams agreed the panels should withhold decisions for the pair along with cases involving Milwaukee's Chase Anderson, Houston's Collin McHugh, Toronto's Marcus Stroman and Arizona's Taijuan Walker until all had completed hearings.

The sides are on track for 16 hearings, the most since teams won 10 of 16 decisions in 1994.