One contract unknown has been resolved for catcher Willson Contreras.
Contreras and the Chicago Cubs agreed to a one-year, $9.625 million contract Thursday, avoiding an arbitration listening to scheduled for later within the day.
The settlement was on the midpoint of the $10.25 million Contreras requested for and the $9 million the Cubs supplied when figures have been exchanged March 22. Arbitration hearings usually are held throughout spring coaching, however the 99-day house owners lockout pushed it again. The Cubs have taken a file-and-trial method to arbitration in previous years, however this clearly was a unique circumstance.
Contreras, 30, can be a free agent for the primary time after the season. His play is setting him up for a giant payday, whether or not it’s from the Cubs — his group since signing as a young person in 2009 — or elsewhere.
Contreras, a two-time All-Star, is hitting .277 with 10 homers, 23 RBIs, .403 on-base share and 161 OPS+.
No statistics after March 1 would have been admissible in arbitration apart from contract and wage comparisons. The timing was set when Major League Baseball and the gamers affiliation agreed to the deal that ended the lockout.
Without a contract extension, Contreras seemingly can be traded earlier than the Aug. 2 deadline with the Cubs (23-33) in a rebuilding mode.
Contreras, pitcher Kyle Hendricks and outfielder Jason Heyward are the one gamers remaining from the 2016 World Series championship group. The Cubs traded stars Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez earlier than final season’s deadline so as to add younger expertise to their minor-league system.
Associated Press contributed.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com