| The Detroit News
Detroit — The Tigers, by 4 p.m. Friday, had managed to avoid arbitration with five of the nine eligible players.
After signing pitcher Michael Fulmer for one-year at $3.1 million on Thursday, they came to terms with pitchers Daniel Norris ($3.475 million), Buck Farmer ($1.85 million) and Joe Jimenez ($1.1 million) and utility player Niko Goodrum ($2.1 million).
Still unsigned are pitchers Matthew Boyd and Jose Cisnero, infielder Jeimer Candelario and outfielder JaCoby Jones.
The deadline for either signing players or submitting salary terms to the league for possible arbitration was 1 p.m. Friday. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Tigers submitted salary terms on the four unsigned papers.
Agreed-to deals could be held up for any number of reasons, especially for players like Candelario and Cisnero who are in the Dominican Republic.
Even if the Tigers submitted salary terms, they have until early February to continue to negotiate a deal prior to the case going to arbitration.
According to industry projections (by MLB Trade Rumors), Boyd could earn between $5.5 million and $7.8 million in arbitration, Jones between $2.2 and $2.8 million, Candelario between $1.7 and $3.3 million and Cisnero between $900,000 and $1.3 million.
The five signed players all earned salaries within MLB Trade Rumors’ projections, though Norris earned slightly more than the maximum projection.
Since 2001, only once have the Tigers had to go through the arbitration process with a player. That was Fulmer in 2019, when the arbitrator sided with the Tigers.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky