Jeff Locke, Pirates avoid arbitration with one-year deal

Pittsburgh Pirates will save about $500,000 by avoiding arbitration with starter Jeff Locke

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Jeff Locke and the Pirates have agreed on a one-year, $3.025 million deal, avoiding arbitration.

Locke is now officially under contract for the 2016 season. He was entering his first year of arbtiration eligibility, and thus is still eligible for arbitration for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. MLB Trade Rumors projected Locke to get $3.5 million in arbitration, so the Pirates may have saved some money by getting this deal done.

After parting ways with Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker earlier this off-season, and after signing backup catcher Chris Stewart to an extension yesterday, the Pirates now have five arbitration eligible players still left to deal with (Francisco Cervelli, Mark Melancon, Tony Watson, Jared Hughes, and Jordy Mercer). Those players are projected to earn a total of $21.1 million, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

As of now, Locke is one of the five starting pitchers currently in the Pirates’ rotation, alongside Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, Jonathon Niese, and Ryan Vogelsong. Juan Nicasio is also being stretched out as a starter. Locke is coming off a year in which he pitched to a 4.49 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP, and was a negative win player. His ERA has gone up each year since 2013, and he was arguably one of the worst starters in the National League last year. As of now, it looks like Locke will be one of the five men in the starting rotation on Opening Day, for better or for worse.

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