Brad Ziegler Signs One-Year Deal @ $3.15m, Avoids Arbitration

Glad the arb process is over for 2013! Got another 1-yr contract! Thankful and blessed to be back with the @dbacks again! #wintheWest

— Brad Ziegler (@bradziegler) January 18, 2013

Ziegler was the only one of our arbitration-eligible players to be past his first year, having settled with the Diamondbacks at $1.795 million last year, without a hearing - he was also a Super Two in Oakland the previous year. While there's currently no details of the amount, he;s sure to get a hefty bump on that for 2013, that saw him set career highs in both innings and appearances, yet still post an excellent 2.49 ERA. His ground-ball rate of 75.5% was easily the best in the majors among pitcher with 50 IP [next was Jamey Wright at 67.3%], and he conjured up twin killings almost at will. Brad's 21 GIDPs hadn't been surpassed by a "pure" reliever since Greg Minton's 23 in 1987 - and he threw over thirty innings more than Ziegler.

MLB Trade Rumors projected a number of $2.4 million for Ziegler this time, but I'm would expect it to be higher than that. Even for a non-closer, without any of those shiny saves to push up the value, Ziegler's performance was excellent, and I'd think something closer to three million than two could be on the cards. If you're keeping score at home, that's half of the Diamondbacks' arbitration babies now out of the way, with Chris Johnson, Gerardo Parra and Cliff Pennington the remaining ones to be decided. My upcoming piece on arbitration is now considerably shorter than it was this morning...

[Update: looks like I was right about it being higher]

#Dbacks RHP BRad Ziegler gets $3.15M for 2013 after settling arb case. Had a terrific 2012 and - correcting - will have one more arb year

— Jack Magruder (@JackMagruder) January 18, 2013