Red Sox, Ellsbury do 1-year deal, but not Papi

Ellsbury and Sox Reach Deal

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• Ellsbury and Sox Reach Deal
  

  Ellsbury and Sox Reach Deal

• Hamels, Ellsbury Avoid Arbitration
  

  Hamels, Ellsbury Avoid Arbitration

Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury avoided arbitration Tuesday, the team announced.

According to a league source, he gets a one-year contract of $8.05 million, more than tripling his 2010 salary. According to general manager Ben Cherington, the two sides did not discuss a multi-year deal as part of the negotiations. Ellsbury is represented by agent Scott Boras.

“Happy to get a deal worked out!” Ellsbury wrote on Twitter. “Excited to get to Spring Training and help the #RedSox get back on top!!”

Ellsbury was paid a comparatively low $2.4 million in 2011 after missing almost all of the 2010 season with fractured ribs. He batted .321 (.376 OBP) with 32 home runs, 39 stolen bases, 105 RBIs and a career-high slugging percentage of .552. Those numbers were good enough for a runner-up finish in the American League MVP balloting.

The Red Sox did not go to a single salary arbitration hearing with a player while Theo Epstein was general manager, a streak that new general manager Ben Cherington would like to continue. His biggest challenge may be in coming to terms with designated hitter David Ortiz, who accepted salary arbitration after rejecting a two-year, $18 million offer from the club.

The Red Sox also announced that infielder Mike Aviles agreed to a one-year deal and avoided arbitration. According to the major league source, the deal is worth $1.2 million.

The next step for players who had not reached an agreement by noon Tuesday was to exchange salary figures with the clubs. The other arbitration eligible Red Sox players are pitchers Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Andrew Bailey, the newly acquired closer from Oakland. Aceves, Bard, and Bailey all are arbitration-eligible for the first time.

Ortiz filed an arbitration figure of $16.5 million, while the club came in at $12.65 million.

In those cases, a hearing will be scheduled for sometime during the first three weeks of February. The sides will be permitted to negotiate until the hearing. If the case goes to a hearing, the sides will make their arguments before an arbitration panel, which will choose one or the other salary figure.

Ortiz was paid $12.5 million by the Red Sox last season, which placed him behind three players who primarily were designated hitters: Michael Young ($16 million), Jorge Posada ($13.1 million) and Travis Hafner ($13 million). All three were being paid under multiyear contracts they signed when they primarily were position players, but it is reasonable to assume that Ortiz’s agent, Fernando Cuza, will use them as comparables when preparing Ortiz’s case.

Cuza also could point to the average annual value of $14 million that White Sox DH Adam Dunn received when he signed a four-year, $56 million deal last winter; Dunn proceeded to have one of the worst seasons ever by a major-league hitter. All of which is why the Red Sox retain interest in persuading Ortiz to agree to a two-year deal at a lower annual average value than he figures to receive in arbitration.

Splitting the difference between the figures submitted by Ortiz and the Red Sox would put them at around $14.5 million.

Of the others, Bailey, the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-Star with Oakland, can expect the biggest raise. Bailey, who was paid $465,000 last season, won’t get the kind of bump the man he replaced, Jonathan Papelbon, got in his first year of arbitration — Papelbon went from $775,000 to a then-record $6.25 million — but he should clear close to $3.5 million.

The other players should all be within the $1 million to $2 million range.

Ellsbury and Aviles became the sixth and seventh arbitration-eligible players to come to terms with the Red Sox this winter. The others are Franklin Morales ($850,000), Andrew Miller ($1.04 million), Matt Albers ($1.075 million), Jarrod Saltalamacchia ($2.5 million) and Ryan Sweeney ($1.75 million), the newly acquired outfielder from Oakland.

Gordon Edes covers the Red Sox for ESPNBoston.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Follow Gordon Edes on Twitter: @GordonEdes

Source: http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/7471727/boston-red-sox-jacoby-ellsbury-deal-not-david-ortiz