Jays’ Donaldson looking cool on hot corner

Toronto’s Josh Donaldson among Major Leaguers likely to rake in big bucks today

NEW YORK (AP) — The hot corner figures to be sizzling Friday when players and teams swap proposed salaries in arbitration.

Toronto’s Josh Donaldson, Baltimore’s Manny Machado, Washington’s Anthony Rendon and the Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant were among the more than 170 players headed to the exchange. But most are likely to reach agreement today, the busiest day of the off-season.

Machado and Donaldson can become free agents after this season and are expected to command one-year deals approaching $20 million. A three-time All-Star, the 25-year-old Machado hit. 259 with 33 homers and 95 RBIs last year, when he made $11.5 million. He has been mentioned in persistent trade rumours.

Donaldson, 32, is a three-time All-Star and the 2015 AL MVP. He rebounded from an injury-slowed 2016 to hit .270 last season with 33 homers and 78 RBIs. Donaldson earned $17 million last year in the final season of a $28.65 million, two-year deal.

Rendon set career bests with a .301 average, 25 homers and 100 RBIs for the Nationals and made $5.8 million. The 27-year-old is eligible for free agency after the 2019 season.

Bryant could break the record for highest salary among players eligible for arbitration for the first time, a mark set when first baseman Ryan Howard was awarded a raise from $900,000 to $10 million by a three-person panel in 2008 instead of Philadelphia’s $7 million offer. Bryant, who turned 26 last week, was an All-Star in his first two big league seasons, hitting .292 with 39 homers, 102 RBIs and a major league-leading 121 runs in 2016, when the Cubs won the World Series.

Bryant agreed last March to a $1.05 million, one-year contract, a record for an unsigned player under club control with less than two years of major league service, and batted .295 with 29 homers and 73 RBIs.

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel and newly acquired St. Louis outfielder Marcell Ozuna also are among the stars set to swap.

There were 189 players eligible for arbitration after teams offered contracts on Dec. 1 to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters, and 173 remained set to swap as of Thursday.

Among those reaching agreements were Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks ($2.82 million), Cleveland reliever Zach McAllister ($2.45 million), Detroit catcher James McCann ($2.37 million), Houston outfielder Jake Marisnick ($1.9 million), Los Angeles Angels reliever Blake Parker ($1.8 million) and New York Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle ($1.3 million).