The Detroit Tigers have avoided going to arbitration hearings with two of their starters, one of them being David Price. The Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins have made some moves as well, and you can find such news for the Cleveland Indians here.
Detroit settled with both Price and right-hander Alfredo Simon. Price, according to Aaron Gleeman of NBC Sports' HardballTalk, earned the highest one-year arbitration-based salary of all time when he settled for $19.75 million earlier on Friday. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports first reported the news of the signing, which now indicates the left-hander may not stay in Detroit beyond the 2015 season. It was his final year of arbitration eligibility.
On the other hand, Simon will earn $5.55 million for the 2015 season, according to Mike Perchick of WAPT. The 33-year-old, who was also in his final year of arbitration eligibility, was acquired from the Cincinnati Reds earlier this month to replace starter Rick Porcello, who was traded to the Boston Red Sox. Simon will likely be the No. 5 starter in the rotation. Below are the two starters' numbers from 2014:
Price: 15-12 with a 3.26 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 271 strikeouts in 34 starts (248 1/3) with TB and DET
Simon: 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 32 starts (196 1/3) and first full season as a starter
The Chicago White Sox also took care of one of their important starting pitchers. Jeff Samardzija was acquired during the MLB Winter Meetings from the Oakland Athletics and was in his final year of arbitration eligibility before he signed a one-year, $9.8 million contract on Friday, according to Heyman. General manager Rick Hahn said earlier in the offseason that he would like to sign the right-hander to a long-term deal, but it looks like nothing could be worked out before the arbitration hearing.
Chicago also settled with starter Hector Noesi on a one-year, $1.95 million deal on Thursday, reliever Javy Guerra (one-year, $937,500) and catcher Tyler Flowers (one-year, $2.675 million).
In Minnesota, the Twins took care of some business and signed third baseman Trevor Plouffe to a one-year, $4.8 million deal and reliever Casey Fien to a one-year, $1.375 million deal, according to Perchick. The 28-year-old Plouffe had his best year in the MLB this past season after slashing .258/.328/.423 with 14 home runs and 80 RBIs in 136 games.
Heyman also reported earlier today that the team settled with pitcher Tommy Milone on a one-year, $2.775 million contract. The left-hander was acquired from Oakland last season and will likely compete for a spot in the starting rotation.
These teams still have some other players to settle with and you can view the full list here.
