Yankees avoid arbitration with Nathan Eovaldi

Just one day after coming to terms with Didi Gregorius, the Yankees have reached a deal with Nathan Eovaldi, thus avoiding arbitration. The two sides agreed on a one-year deal worth $5.6 million. With this agreement, Eovaldi joins Michael Pineda, Dustin Ackley and Gregorius as arbitration-eligible players that New York has signed. There was some separation between the two sides previously, with Eovaldi filing for $6.3 million, and the Yankees filing at $4.9 million, but the team and player settled directly at the midpoint

This was Eovaldi's second year of arbitration eligibility, and the $5.6 million deal represents a raise for him as he enters his age-26 season. He earned $3.3 million in 2015, a year which saw him post a 14-3 record and 4.20 ERA in 154.1 innings. Eovaldi has one more year of team control remaining after this season, and he will be a free agent after the 2017 campaign.

Eovaldi was in the midst of a second-half surge before elbow inflammation prematurely ended his season in September. In 56 innings post All-Star break, the young righthander pitched to the tune of a 3.67 ERA and 3.10 FIP. Despite his early shutdown, Eovaldi was still worth 2.2 WAR in 2015 according to Baseball-Reference, and if he can parlay some of his second half success into continued growth in 2016, Eovaldi will be worth several times the money the Yankees will pay him.

The Yankees still have some work left to do in order to avoid going to arbitration completely. Aroldis Chapman and Ivan Nova remain unsigned. Nova and the Yankees were not too far apart, with Nova filing at $4.6 million and the team filing at $3.8 million, so perhaps a deal for him will come rather painlessly. New York is much farther apart with regards to Chapman, with the lefty reliever filing at $13.1 million compared to the Yankees' offer of $9 million. It remains to be seen whether the two sides will be able to find a compromise before arbitration hearings begin in February.