The Indians’ work with their arbitration-eligible players is nearly complete.
On Friday, the club reached agreements on contracts for the 2017 season with five players, leaving only one without a deal.
Four pitchers — Danny Salazar ($3.4 million), Cody Allen ($7.35 million), Bryan Shaw ($4.6 million) and Zach McAllister ($1.825) — reached deals for 2017 on Friday. Those salary figures were first reported by Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball and FanRag Sports.
Per MLB.com, Lonnie Chisenhall also came to an agreement at $4.3 million.
Those five join Trevor Bauer ($3.55 million) and Dan Otero ($1.055 million), who avoided arbitration by reaching an agreement on Thursday.
With Salazar and Bauer under contract for 2017, the Indians solidified their starting rotation’s price tag. Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Josh Tomlin, Salazar and Bauer will make a combined base salary of $23.65 million, per Baseball Prospectus, which includes a payout of Kluber’s signing bonus. That is less than what former Indians pitcher CC Sabathia, now 36, will make in 2017 after his $25 million option vested.
Salazar made his first All-Star team in 2016 before losing most of September and October to a strained forearm. He finished the season 11-6 with a 3.87 ERA and 161 strikeouts in only 137⅓ innings.
Allen turned in another solid season as manager Terry Francona’s closer, saving 32 games and posting a 1.000 WHIP and 87 strikeouts in 68 innings. He followed that by throwing 13⅔ scoreless innings in the postseason.
Shaw appeared in at least 70 games in 2016 for the fourth consecutive season. He finished with a 3.24 ERA, 1.260 WHIP and 69 strikeouts. McAllister had an up-and-down year as a middle reliever to the tune of a 3.44 ERA and 1.452 WHIP.
The signings leave Brandon Guyer as the lone arbitration-eligible player yet to reach a deal. Teams still have a couple of weeks to reach an agreement before a player’s arbitration hearing. Those hearings are scheduled to take place between Jan. 30 and Feb. 17. Friday was the deadline to exchange salary figures. MLBTradeRumors.com has projected Guyer to make $2 million in arbitration.
Those agreements, along with Guyer’s projected salary, previous commitments and the fallout of Chris Johnson’s contract, push the Indians’ likely Opening Day payroll to $115 million to $120 million, easily the highest total in franchise history.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ
