Milwaukee Brewers Avoid Arbitration with Wily Peralta, Carlos Torres

The deadline for teams across Major League Baseball to exchange arbitration figures with eligible players came and went at noon today, and as such we saw a lengthy list of players signing deals with their respective clubs for 2017. The Milwaukee Brewers had only three unresolved arbitration cases prior to today: Wily Peralta, Carlos Torres, and Chase Anderson. The team announced earlier this afternoon via Twitter that they’ve agreed to terms with Peralta and Torres, while Chase Anderson’s salary has yet to be determined and he could head to an arbitration hearing.

According to Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports, Wily Peralta will earn $4.275 mil in 2017. That’s a rather significant raise over his $2.8 mil salary last season, especially considering he spent a good portion of the year in AAA. Still, his figure does at least come in below the $4.4 mil that MLB Trade Rumors had projected. Last season, Peralta made 23 starts for Milwaukee, posting a cumulative 4.86 ERA with 6.56 K/9, 3.03 BB/9, and a 50% ground ball rate across 127.2 innings pitched. He looked significantly improved during the final two months of the season, however, and should have a spot in the starting rotation to begin next season.

According to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo, Carlos Torres will earn $2.175 mil, a bit more than his projected salary of $2 mil from MLB Trade Rumors. Torres signed with Milwaukee just days before the 2016 season and earned $950K last season, so he’ll earn double that salary in 2017. Despite signing so late, Torres became one of the more dependable arms in the Brewers’ bullpen and posted a 2.73 ERA with 8.53 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and a 44.6% ground ball rate in 82.1 innings (though ERA estimators don’t fully support his excellent run prevention).

Anderson was the only Super Two eligible player of the bunch and was projected for a $3.1 mil salary after earning near the league minimum last year. Anderson had a bit of a rocky first half during his first season with the Brewers, but righted the ship down the stretch and wound up posting a 4.39 ERA in 31 appearances (30 starts) covering 151.2 innings pitched. David Stearns declined to say whether the club will continue negotiations with Anderson for his 2017 salary, of if they’ll employ a “file and trial” strategy and simply wait for the arbitration panel to decide. He also added that no multiyear deals were discussed with Anderson or any of the club’s other arb-eligible players, only one-year pacts.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs