The Pittsburgh Pirates and Jeff Locke have agreed on a $3.025M salary for 2016 according to Ken Rosenthal, thus avoiding arbitration. Locke was projected to receive $3.5M this year, so the Pirates got him for almost $500K less than the estimated cost. Locke made 30 starts in 2015 and had a 4.49 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, with 129 strikeouts in 168.1 innings.
Source: #Pirates settle with Jeff Locke on one-year, $3.025M contract, avoiding arbitration.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 14, 2016
Earlier in the day, the Pirates and Chris Stewart agreed on a two-year deal which avoided arbitration and covered the first year of free agency. It also included a team option for 2018.
The Pirates had a total of seven players file for arbitration yesterday. That leaves Francisco Cervelli, Mark Melancon, Tony Watson, Jared Hughes and Jordy Mercer without agreements at this time. Like many clubs have started doing recently, the Pirates are a “file and trial” club, which means if they don’t come to an agreement by tomorrow’s deadline, then they will go to arbitration with the player(s).