Orioles avoid arbitration with Austin Voth, signing right-hander to deal with 2024 club option

The Orioles have completed their arbitration process, and possibly their increases to payroll, for this offseason.

Baltimore announced Thursday that it signed right-hander Austin Voth to a one-year deal that includes a team option for 2024. Terms were not disclosed, but the Orioles had reportedly filed at $2 million and Voth at $1.7 million after they did not come to an agreement before the arbitration salary exchange deadline earlier this month. Each of the team’s other arbitration-eligible players — outfielders Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays; infielder Jorge Mateo; and reliever Dillon Tate — agreed to deals without exchanging figures.

Voth, 30, was in his second of what will be four years of arbitration eligibility. After he posted a 10.13 ERA in 19 relief appearances for the Washington Nationals, the Orioles claimed him on waivers and deployed him largely as a starter. With 17 of his 22 outings being starts, Voth had a 3.04 ERA with Baltimore. He’ll enter spring training among the many contenders to be in the Orioles’ rotation but could serve as a long reliever if not.

The agreement means the Orioles still have required only one arbitration hearing under executive president and general manager Mike Elias, with a panel siding with a club to determine Santander’s 2021 salary. Elias has stated the team operates under a “file and go” policy, meaning the team will head to hearings once figures are exchanged, but Voth is now the third straight Oriole to pass the exchange deadline and agree to a deal without a hearing after Trey Mancini and John Means did the same last year.

The club option in Voth’s deal could allow the Orioles to set his 2024 salary without needing to go through the arbitration process. The associated buyout could also effectively provide a boost to his 2023 salary if the option is declined, which would then prompt Voth to enter arbitration for a third time.

Voth’s uncertain status was the last to-be-determined portion of the Orioles’ current payroll. Using the midpoint of Voth’s and the Orioles’ filed numbers, Cot’s Baseball Contracts had the team’s projected opening day payroll at $64.9 million, the second lowest of the majors’ 30 teams.

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from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/bJB40VX