NEW YORK (AP) — Miami outfielder Jesús Sánchez, New York Yankees reliever Albert Abreu and Detroit outfielder Akil Baddoo were the last of 24 players who made the cutoff for salary arbitration, which was set at 2 years, 118 days of major league service, down from 2 years, 128 days last offseason.
Sánchez and Abreu were at the cutoff and Baddoo has 2 years, 119 days.
Because he is eligible for arbitration, Sánchez likely will get a salary in the $2 million range rather than about $800,000.
Just missing the cutoff were Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer, Milwaukee catcher William Contreras, Seattle left-hander Tayler Saucedo and Detroit right-hander Alex Lange, all at 2 years, 112 days.
Sánchez hit .253 with 14 homers and 52 RBIs this year. Abreu was 2-2 with a 4.73 ERA in 45 relief appearances, and Baddoo hit .218 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs.
New York Mets outfielder DJ Stewart had the most service time in the so-called Super-2 class at 2 years, 168 days, just four days shy of three years of major league service.
Tampa Bay left-hander Shane McClanahan is eligible at 2 years, 158 days. He will miss most or all of next season following Tommy John surgery on Aug. 21.
Oakland right-hander James Kaprielian would have been eligible at 2 years, 167 days but was sent outright to Triple-A Las Vegas on Oct. 12.
Others in the Super-2 class include Tampa Bay infielder Isaac Paredes and left-hander Josh Fleming, Baltimore outfielder Ryan McKenna and right-hander Tyler Wells, Cleveland left-hander Sam Hentges and right-hander Nick Sandlin, Minnesota first-baseman Alex Kirilloff and utilityman Nick Gordon, Miami right-hander Anthony Bender, Mets right-hander Phil Bickford, Washington shortstop Luis Garcia, Seattle right-hander Logan Gilbert, Colorado left-hander Lucas Gilbreath, Kansas City right-hander Carlos Hernández, Pittsburgh outfielder Connor Joe, St. Louis left-hander John King, Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt, Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele and Texas outfielder Leody Taveras.
The top 22% of players by service time with at least two years but less than three are eligible for arbitration as long as they had at least 86 days of service this year. They join the group of three-to-six-year players.
Players and teams are scheduled to exchange proposed salaries on Jan. 12, and hearings for those lacking agreements will be scheduled for Jan. 29 to Feb. 16 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Players were eligible after two years of service from 1974-85, and the threshold increased to three years in 1986. The super 2 class began in 1991 at 17% and it increased to 22% in 2013.
The super-2 cutoff was as low as 2 years, 115 days in 2019 and as high as 2 years, 146 days in 2011.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
