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Pirates and Neil Walker, Vin Mazzaro Avoid Arbitration

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The Pittsburgh Pirates and second baseman Neil Walker will sign a one year deal for $5.75 M according to Rob Biertempfel, avoiding arbitration. They also signed reliever Vin Mazzaro for $950,000 according to Biertempfel. They have officially avoided arbitration with every eligible player now ahead of the deadline to exchange figures.

Neil Walker was projected to make $4.8 M, while Vin Mazzaro was projected to be $800,000 for the 2014 season. Walker received a significant raise over what was projected. He made $3.3 M last season.

Walker played 133 games for the Pirates in 2013, putting up a .251/.339/.418 slash line. He hit a career high 16 homers and drove in 53 runs. Mazzaro went 8-2, 2.81 in 57 relief outings. He threw a total of 73.2 innings and had 46 strikeouts and a 1.21 WHIP

There were six players eligible for arbitration going into yesterday. They already agreed to deals with Pedro Alvarez for $4.25 M and Mark Melancon for $2.595 M. Earlier in the day, they signed Gaby Sanchez for $2.3 M and Travis Snider agreed yesterday to a $1.2 M deal.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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