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Arbitration candidates
From our original list of 14, two (J.J. Hoover and T.J. McFarland) were non-tendered, though McFarland was subsequently then signed back to the team. The Diamondbacks then added the arbitration eligible Brad Boxberger on a trade from the Rays, giving the following 13 players (the most in the majors) who entered this week as candidates for the process. The service time and estimated salary for each player comes from MLB Trade Rumors:
- Brad Boxberger (4.109) – $1.9MM
- Patrick Corbin (5.105) – $8.3MM
- Randall Delgado (5.100) – $2.5MM
- A.J. Pollock (5.052) – $8.5MM
- Shelby Miller (4.166) – $4.9MM
- Chris Owings (4.027) – $3.8MM
- Chris Herrmann (4.001) – $1.4MM
- Taijuan Walker (3.142) – $5.0MM
- David Peralta (3.120) – $3.8MM
- Nick Ahmed (3.054) – $1.1MM
- Jake Lamb (3.053) – $4.7MM
- Andrew Chafin (3.020) – $1.2MM
- Robbie Ray (3.007) – $4.2MM
Arbitration avoided
The following players avoided arbitration by signing with the team to one-year deals at the figure reported, before today.
- January 8. Randall Delgado, $2.25 million (discussed here)
- January 11. Patrick Corbin, $7.5 million (discussed here)
This was just the overture to a flurry of activity today, which significantly reduced the number of candidates.
Dbacks have avoided arbitration with A.J. Pollock ($7.75m), Patrick Corbin ($7.5m), Jake Lamb ($4.275m) and Andrew Chafin ($1.195m).
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) January 12, 2018
Interestingly, all four of those came in below the MLBTR estimates, though the amount varies from 5K for Chafin to 800K for Corbin. All told, they will earn a total of about $2 million less than expected this year, which is nice.
Sources: #DBacks, Brad Boxberger settle at $1,850,000, avoidng arbitration.
— Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayFRS) January 12, 2018
Catcher Chris Herrmann has agreed to a $1.3M deal with the #Dbacks to avoid a salary arbitration hearing.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 12, 2018
Same with both of these, under the expected figure by 50K and 100K respectively. The fact that every one of the seven so far are below estimate, suggests either the D-backs front-office are very good at negotiation, or the MLBTR figures are systematically skewed in some way. Would probably need to look at the agreed numbers for other teams and see whether they are also consistently lower than the estimates.
Taijuan Walker gets $4.825 from #Dbacks
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 12, 2018
Robbie Ray settles at $3.95 million w #Dbacks
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 12, 2018
Again, the streak continues, with everyone coming in below projections, by $175K and $205K respectively. We now also have details of the filings from both sides for Miller:
shelby miller files at $4.9M, dbacks at $4.7M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 12, 2018
The team won their arbitration hearing last year, so we’ll see if Miller tries to go for double or nothing in 2018!
And we now finally have an over, with Nick Ahmed exceeding expectations by $165K.
nick ahmed, dbacks settle at $1.275M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 13, 2018
According to the team, Chris Owings and David Peralta were also signed, but at this point there is no word on the value of the contracts:
#Dbacks agree to 1-year contracts with INF Nick Ahmed, RHP Brad Boxberger, LHP Andrew Chafin, C Chris Herrmann, INF Jake Lamb, INF/OF Chris Owings, OF David Peralta, OF A.J. Pollock, LHP Robbie Ray, and RHP Taijuan Walker.
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) January 13, 2018
Still unsigned
To save you the effort, here are the remaining six four three one D-back, who is currently not signed. He can continue to negotiate, all the way up to the literal door of the arbitration chamber, so there’s still plenty of time left. We’ll update this with any other agreements today.
- Shelby Miller (4.166) – player at $4.9MM, club at $4.7MM