The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have signed six of their eight players eligible for salary arbitration in the last few days, but were unable to come to a contract agreement with a pair of players on Tuesday. Today was the deadline to exchange salaries for players headed to arbitration, and Jered Weaver and Mike Napoli each exchanged figures with the Angels, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
Weaver asked for a salary of $8.8 million, while the Angels submitted a figure of $7.365 million. Napoli asked for $6.1 million, while the Angels countered at $5.3 million. If needed, an arbitration hearing would be scheduled some time between February 1-18, but in most cases the two sides come to an agreement before a hearing is needed. If the two sides go to a hearing, both player and club submit their cases to a three-member arbitration panel, who will decide one of the two submitted salaries in an either/or proposition.
Weaver made $4.265 million in 2010, his first year of arbitration. He had his finest season, leading baseball with 233 strikeouts. Though he was 13-12, Weaver had a career-best (for a full season) 3.01 ERA in 224 1/3 innings over 34 starts. In five seasons with the Angels, Weaver is 64-39 with a 3.55 ERA, only two wins behind Frank Tanana for most wins by an Angel in the first five years of his career.
Napoli, 29, hit .238/.316/.468 with 26 home runs in a career-high 140 games in 2010, and has hit at least 20 home runs for three consecutive seasons. Napoli split time between catcher and first base last year, starting 67 games at first base, filling in for the injured Kendry Morales. Napoli made $3.6 million in 2010, and is arbitration eligible through the 2012 season.
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