Cleveland Indians Trade News 2016: Zach McAllister Avoids Arbitration, Signs New $1.3 Million Contract
Right-hander Zach McAllister earned about half a million last year, but with the news of agreeing to a one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians, he not only avoided arbitration, he also is getting more than twice the money he earned last season.
According to multiple reports, the 28-year-old pitcher will be receiving $1.3 million to play for the Indians. He was 4-4 with a 3.00 ERA while appearing in 60 games last season as a reliever. He also started in one game. Selected right out of high school by the New York Yankees in the 2006 MLB Amateur Draft, he played all his five seasons in the majors for Cleveland after his original team traded him to the Indians in 2010 in exchange for Austin Kearns.
Knowing that the arbitration process is rather tedious and very uncomfortable, the team and McAllister conveniently agreed to a new contract for next season. With this latest development, it means the team now only has five players who are still eligible to file for arbitration, including Jeff Manship, Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Josh Tomlin.
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The rule says that teams are allowed to file arbitration numbers by Tuesday and then they will have to exchange them with players by Friday. The start of hearing the arbitration cases will be on Feb. 1. It is also worth mentioning that the concerned teams can actually come up with an agreement before that date.
Serving as bridge to Allen and Shaw, McAllister posted a 3.00 ERA in the Indians' bullpen, in the process producing 84 strikeouts. He finally completed a full season with Cleveland after seeing himself in and out of the rotation during his first two years with the club. He actually started once, in a game against the Tigers in April of last year, but was eventually relegated to the bullpen the rest of the way.
