Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Rays and starting pitcher, Jake Odorizzi went to an arbitration hearing as the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on his salary for the 2017 season.
The Rays filed at $3.825M while Jake Odorizzi came in at $4.1M.
Jon Heyman reports that the arbitrators ruled in favor of Odorizzi so he’ll earn the $4.1M in 2017. The Rays were undefeated in arbitration hearings before losing to Drew Smyly last year, now they have lost two cases in a row.
Jake Odorizzi is in his first year of arbitration and is still under two more year of team control, scheduled to become a free agent following the 2019 season.
Over his career, he has a record of 30-30 with a 3.75 ERA and a 3.93 FIP, to go along with a 22.0 K% and a 7.3 BB% while opponents have averaged .236 against him over the course of 101 games — 98 starts — and 565 innings pitched.
Last off-season, the Rays tried to sign Odorizzi to an extension but the talks never progressed. In 2016, Odorizzi put up career highs in innings pitched, starts, and home runs allowed. With the $4.1M, Odorizzi will be the 5th highest paid player on the team.