The Minnesota Twins sign Trevor Plouffe to a one year deal avoiding arbitration
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The Minnesota Twins have avoided arbitration with Trevor Plouffe agreeing to a one year deal worth $7.25 million. The Twins and Plouffe couldn’t come to an agreement on a new contract before the arbitration filing deadline. The team and player exchanged figures and were technically heading towards a hearing in February. This was never very likely as the Twins and Plouffe weren’t too far apart. The Twins also tend to avoid arbitration hearings like the plague. They haven’t gone to a hearing against a player since Kyle Lohse in 2006.
The Twins had filed at $7 million and Plouffe filed at $7.9 million. The Twins are aren’t a “file and trial” team and continue to negotiate one year deals after the arbitration filing deadline. Usually, in these cases, both sides agree to a figure around the midpoint between the ask and the offer. In this case, Plouffe eventually agreed to a deal for less than the midpoint.
trevor plouffe, twins settle at $7.25M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 25, 2016
The Twins now have all their arbitration cases settled. Four cases were settled before the filing deadline, Kevin Jepsen agreed to a one year deal a few days ago and now Plouffe.
MLBTR predicted a $7.7 million deal for Plouffe. The money saved by the Twins being able to sign him for $200K less than the midpoint and $475K less than his projection is useful. It doesn’t sound like much but for a team currently being squeezed tightly against budget restrictions, it’s enough to bring a veteran in on an MiLB deal. That’s not huge but depth matters.
Minnesota has spent $22.96 million on their six arbitration eligible players this offseason. They’ve spent slightly less than what MLBTR projected. The Twins are now at $98.7625 million in guaranteed contracts for 2016. Added on a rough estimate of remaining player costs (pre-arb), the Twins will end up at $110.7625 million as things stand.