Mariners, OF Mitch Haniger avoid arbitration with contract agreement

One down and two arbitration eligible players to go as the Mariners and outfielder Mitch Haniger have avoided arbitration, reaching an agreement on a contract for 2021.

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The Mariners announced Monday that the team and Haniger have agreed to terms on a contract. The team does not disclose financial details, but a source confirmed the deal Saturday that was first reported by Robert Murray of FanSided, with Haniger receiving $3,010,000 from the Mariners in his second year of arbitration eligibility.

The dollar amount matches the same amount Haniger, who has been sidelined with injury since 2019, was scheduled to earn in 2020. While salaries rarely go down in arbitration, they can be reduced by up to 20 percent from the previous year.

The hope is Haniger, who has recently been posting workouts that include baseball activity on social media, will be healthy and ready to re-assume his role as the Mariners’ everyday right fielder on opening day.

On Wednesday, the team announced they had tendered contracts to 34 players on their MLB roster ahead of 5 p.m. non-tender deadline that day. J.P. Crawford and Tom Murphy remain as the only players on the roster without contracts and have until early February to get deals done to avoid arbitration.

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