A’s reach deal with Gray, Giants with Nuñez
The Giants and A’s made a flurry of one-year contract deals Friday, the deadline for arbitrationeligible players to exchange figures with their teams in advance of potential hearings.
The A’s announced deals with pitchers Sonny Gray and Liam Hendricks and catcher Stephen Vogt. The Giants agreed to terms with all three of their remaining arbitration-eligible players: third baseman Eduardo Nuñez and relievers Will Smith and George Kontos.
That leaves one potential arbitration case for the A’s, Khris Davis, who filed a request for $5 million and received an offer of $4.65 million from the team.
Salary figures for the five signees were not announced, but Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported that Gray will earn $3.575 million, a huge leap from the $527,500 he earned in 2016, and Nuñez will get $4.2 million. He earned $1.475 million last year.
All players who have between three and six years of major-league service time, plus some who are nearing three years, are eligible for arbitration. Gray was in his first year of eligibility, Nuñez in his last. He can become a free agent next winter.
If they cannot reach agreement with their teams, the players submit salary requests and the teams respond with offers. A three-member arbitration panel hears arguments for both sides and picks one of the two figures.
Hearings are rare. The Giants have not gone to a hearing since 2004, when they lost to A.J. Pierzynski. The A’s defeated Jarrod Parker in 2015. Oakland has not lost a hearing since Rickey Henderson in 1982.
The A’s still have time to avoid a hearing with Davis, which would occur in February. Also, these one-year agreements do not preclude the teams and players from renegotiating longterm deals.