It's been a while since the White Sox haven't had everybody under contract by the deadline for exchanging salary figures in arbitration.
The White Sox did sign four arb-eligible players on Friday (compared to their MLB Trade Rumors projections):
- Jose Abreu: $13M ($17.9M)
- Luis Avilan: $2.45M ($2.3M)
- Carlos Rodon: $2.3M ($2M)
- Leury Garcia: $1.175M ($1.2M)
Add in Danny Farquhar, who signed for $1.05 million (projection: $1.5 million) back on Dec. 1, and that's five players under contract for $19.975 million, or nearly $5 million under those projections.
Yet there are two players unaccounted for: Avisail Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez. The former is projected to make $6.7 million in arbitration, and the latter $2.1 million. Bob Nightengale says Garcia is shooting for that figure:
The divide between Sanchez and the club is not yet known.
The sides can still negotiate over the next month, and the Sox' history says they will. They haven't gone to arbitration with a player since Keith Foulke back in 2001. Foulke won that hearing, but the bitterness of the dispute never fully dissipated.
At the moment, only the Rangers have gone longer without an arbitration hearing, and they've extended that run for another year. The Cardinals owned the longest drought until last year, when they won the battle over Michael Wacha. It's worth noting that St. Louis also hadn't reached a deal with Carlos Martinez at this point, only to sign him to a five-year extension the week before they were supposed to take it to court.
