Three Mariners Avoid Arbitration With Vargas, League and Kelley
According to Larry Stone (and maybe other sources) the Mariners complete arbitration deals with Brandon League, Jason Vargas and Shawn Kelley.
Word is just in, via a tweet from his agency, CAA Sports, that pitcher Jason Vargas avoided arbitration today by reaching agreement on a one-year contract for $4.85 million. Reliever Brandon League also avoided arbitration by reaching agreement on a one-year contract for $5 million (per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports), and now there’s word, via MLB.com’s Greg Johns, that the Mariners’ third arbitration-eligible player, Shawn Kelley , has also reached agreement for $600,000, plus $50,000 in possible incentives.
It’s always good to see the teams come to terms with a player and avoid arbitration. Those hearings are often very nasty and lead down a road to creating friction between the player and the organization. And while neither of the three look to be career guys with the Mariners, it does help to keep from furthering the persona of a “bad players organization” that people keep murmuring about in Seattle.
League’s bump up to $5 is a bit more than I had thought he’d get, but he does now have those key “saves” and that makes all the difference in the world. Kelley on the other hand is about exactly what I had thought he’d get and good on him for also getting that little bump in possible incentives.
This off-season we’ve seen Dave Cameron talk about both a Michael Pineda extension as well as Casey McLain and myself throwing out the idea of a Dustin Ackley Extension. While, Pineda is still technicially Mariners “property” for the next day or two it’s highly unlikely that with all the press on this deal that it would subsequently would fall apart now. But with the arbtration being settled I’m a bit surprised the team didn’t look at one other road.
Tags: Extension, Jason Vargas, Mariners General
Posted in Mariners