Being that I’m traveling today, and I anticipate several of these kinds of reports (or an official announcement from the Cubs) over the next 24 hours or so, I’m going to just have a running post to update the deals for the seven arbitration-eligible Cubs players. – Jake Arrieta, Travis Wood, Welington Castillo, Luis Valbuena, Chris Coghlan, Pedro Strop, and Felix Doubront.
Up first is starter(?)/reliever(?)/swing man(?) Felix Doubront, who has avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.925 million deal with the Cubs, according to Jon Heyman. That’s a real healthy tick above the $1 million range I’d been expecting for the lefty in his first arbitration year. These things are not an exact science, especially for first year guys, and I imagine that the fact that Doubront has started a lot in his career (even if he might find better success in the pen) factored heavily into the price tag, together with the fact that he was on the higher end of service time for first year arb guys. I’ll chalk that up to a learning experience when it comes to projections.
Up next is Chris Coghlan, who has avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2.505 million deal for 2015, according to Carrie Muskat and Jesse Rogers. That’s a nice get for Coghlan, who had to settle for a minor league deal last year, and then rocked it with the bat. His unique story made his arbitration level particularly tough to project (MLBTR had him at just $1.4 million, and I topped out at $2 million). It also looks like amounts are coming in higher than projected across the board (not just on the Cubs).
Welington Castillo joins the party, according to Gordon Wittenmyer, getting $2.1 million for 2015. That one is right there in the expected range for his first arb year, and should provide a little assistance as the Cubs shop Castillo. Even if it had gotten to the exchange of numbers phase, he still would have been plenty tradable – but having the final number for sure can only help trade partners budget the possible addition.
Jake Arrieta and the Cubs are the next to avoid arbitration, with Arrieta getting $3.63 million for 2015, per Jon Heyman. That’s a fair bit less than expected, so I’m just going to assume that everyone trying to make projections this year (that includes me) did so while also breakdancing and drinking wine. Arrieta’s breakthrough last year was enormous, but short-lived. He’s a candidate to have a huge leap in arbitration salary if he repeats in 2015.
And Travis Wood gets $5.685 million, per Jesse Rogers. Sounds about right.
$4.2 million for Luis Valbuena, per Carrie Muskat. Can you tell I’m at the Convention now and doing short bursts on my phone?