Cleveland Indians avoid arbitration by agreeing to 1-year deal with Justin Masterson

There have been many rumblings surrounding Justin Masterson’s contract status with the Cleveland Indians, and they have ranged from long-term extension talks to the two sides potentially going all the way to arbitration. On Tuesday afternoon, the two sides came to agreement that should silence some of that.

Multiple outlets are reporting that the Indians and Masterson have agreed to a 1-year contract, and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports brings us the details on the financial agreement.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Masterson settle for less than the midpoint between the two sides, but perhaps his representation simply decided to avoid the controversy. In 2013, the now 28-year-old Masterson had one of the best seasons of his career, transforming himself into a strikeout pitcher with a career high 9.09 strikeouts per 9 innings, and putting up a stellar ERA of 3.45 in 193 innings of American League ball.

On the open market, a player with Masterson’s list of accomplishments would have commanded much more than the $9.7625 million that he reportedly received, but that is the nature of the arbitration process. He’ll be tasked with repeating that big-time level of production, and if he can, the big payday will be at the end of the rainbow.