Marisnick agrees to $1.9 million deal for ’18
Keuchel, Springer, McCullers among 7 who’ll exchange arbitration figures with club today
The Astros avoided a hearing with one of their eight arbitration-eligible players by settling Thursday with outfielder Jake Marisnick on a $1.9 million salary for 2018.
Marisnick received a raise of $800,000 from 2017. He will be arbitration-eligible again before the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The Astros will exchange proposed 2018 salary figures Friday with their other seven arbitration-eligible players, a group that includes AllStar outfielder and World Series MVP George Springer and AllStar starters Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers Jr.
If the team and a player can’t settle on a salary, a three-person panel will hear their cases next month and choose one of the side’s proposed figures. The Astros have gone to an arbitration hearing twice under general manager Jeff Luhnow, with catcher Jason Castro in 2016 (the team won) and starter Collin McHugh last year (McHugh won).
McHugh, Ken Giles, Brad Peacock and Evan Gattis also are set to exchange figures Friday.
Keuchel, who will be a free agent after next season, will receive the highest salary of the remaining seven. MLBTradeRumors.com projects the 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner to make $12.6 million through the arbitration process.
Players are typically arbitration-eligible for three winters, but Springer, McCullers and Marisnick will be eligible four times because of Super Two status, achieved by those who rank in the top 22 percent of major league service time among players who have accrued between two and three years of service.
Marisnick, 26, is expected to again play a part-time role for the Astros in 2018. A righthanded hitter, he figures to play primarily against lefthanders but also against certain righties. The elite defender had a career-best season offensively last year after overhauling his swing. In 230 atbats, he batted .243 with 16 home runs and an .815 OPS.
A broken right thumb cost Marisnick the final few weeks of last regular season and all three rounds of the postseason. He resumed hitting about two weeks after the World Series and has reported no issues with his surgically repaired thumb as he prepares for spring training.