Price gets $19.75 million as 93 in MLB arbitration settle
NEW YORK (AP) Detroit Tigers left-hander David Price set a record for the highest one-year contract for a player in salary arbitration, agreeing to a $19.75 million deal Friday as 95 players reached agreements on the busiest day of baseball's offseason.
Several other pitchers got big salaries, including Washington's Doug Fister ($11.4 million) and Stephen Strasburg ($7.4 million), Boston's Rick Porcello ($12.5 million), San Diego's Ian Kennedy ($9.85 million), and Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago White Sox ($9.8 million).
Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis, with one game left to serve on a 25-game suspension for using the banned stimulant Adderall, got the largest deal among position players Friday at $12 million. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters, coming off season-ending elbow surgery in June, agreed at $8,275,000, and New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy at $8 million.
Of the 175 players who filed for arbitration on Tuesday, just 74 exchanged figures with their teams and only 54 were without agreements by Friday night.
Of the cases still to be determined, Houston outfielder Dexter Fowler asked for the most at $10.8 million, with the Astros offering $8.5 million.
Baltimore outfielder Steve Pearce presented the biggest difference: He asked for $5.4 million and the team offered $2 million. Orioles pitcher Bud Norris also had a big gap, requesting $10.25 million as the team offered $7.5 million.
Cases that don't settle will be scheduled for hearings before three-person panels next month in St. Petersburg, Florida. Just three of the 146 players who filed last year needed decisions.
Tampa Bay settled with all eight of its players in arbitration and San Diego reached deals with all seven eligible Padres. Pittsburgh had the most players in arbitration with 12 and settled with nine.
Price's deal topped pitcher Max Scherzer's $15,525,000 agreement with Detroit last year. Scherzer is now a free agent, and Price can go on the open market after this year's World Series, when he will be 30.
Detroit acquired the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline, and he went on to hold Minnesota scoreless in a division-clinching victory on the final day of the regular season. The Tigers won the AL Central for a fourth consecutive year.
Price went 15-12 with a 3.26 ERA last season, when he made $14 million. He led the major leagues with 271 strikeouts and also set a career high with 248 1-3 innings pitched.
Kansas City has the most remaining cases with seven. All-Star closer Greg Holland asked the AL champions for a raise from $4,725,000 to $9 million and was offered $6.65 million. Baltimore has six left, and World Series winner San Francisco and Oakland have four each.
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AP Baseball Writers Ben Walker and Noah Trister contributed to this report.