Chacin, McKenry, Brothers agree to 1-year deals
DENVER -- The Rockies avoided arbitration with right-handed pitcher Jhoulys Chacin, catcher Michael McKenry and left-handed reliever Rex Brothers by reaching one-year deals before Friday's deadline for arbitration-eligible players and their clubs to exchange figures.
According to sources, Chacin's deal is worth $5.5 million, McKenry signed for $1.0876 million and Brothers signed for $1.4 million.
The Rockies announced that they had reached deals with all three players but did not reveal the financial terms, per club policy.
Chacin, McKenry and Brothers join right-handed pitchers Tyler Chatwood (two years, $2 million with performance bonuses up to $250,000) and Jordan Lyles (one year, $2.475 million), and outfielder Drew Stubbs (one year, $5.825 million) as players who have avoided arbitration.
The Rockies are left with two arbitration-eligible players -- Rosario, who filed for $3.3 million while the Rockies offered $2.8 million, and righty reliever Adam Ottavino, who filed for $1.475 million while the team offered $1 million. If settlements can't be reached, the players' 2015 salaries will be determined at an arbitration hearing to take place between Feb. 2 and Feb. 21. If a case goes to a hearing, either the player's request or the team's offer will be assigned to the player.
The deal came in Chacin's third and final year of arbitration eligibility. Chacin worked his first two arbitration years under a two-year, $6.5 million deal. In the first year of that contract, he went 14-10 with a 3.47 ERA and 126 strikeouts in a career-high 197 1/3 innings. Last season didn't work as well. Bothered by rotator cuff issues from the start of Spring Training, Chacin was limited to 11 starts (1-7, 5.40 ERA) before being shut down for the year after a June 28 start in Milwaukee.
The Rockies are expecting Chacin, who said in November that he felt healthy again, to join veteran lefty Jorge De La Rosa at the front of the club's rotation.
McKenry, in his second of four years of arbitration eligibility, is coming off a solid offensive performance -- .315 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs in 57 Major League games, after spending much of the early season at Triple-A Colorado Springs completing a comeback from knee surgery in 2013.
Video: COL@LAD: McKenry blasts a solo shot to left field
For now the Rockies see McKenry as part of a three-man catching situation, with free-agent signee Nick Hundley the main catcher and Wilin Rosario also part of the picture. The Rockies also are planning to get a look at Rosario -- a right-handed power hitter, but not the defensive player or game-caller that Hundley and McKenry are -- as a part-time first baseman. The club has been listening to trade offers for Rosario, also.
Brothers, a first-time arbitration-eligible player, went 4-6 with a 5.59 ERA in 74 games last season. Brothers was one of the top lefty relievers in the Majors in 2013, when he went 2-1 with a 1.75 ERA and 19 saves in 72 appearances.
Video: COL@SF: Brothers pitches immaculate inning vs. Giants
Brothers is seen as eventual closer material, provided he returns to form.