The Braves will avoid arbitration hearings for the 15th time in 16 years after agreeing to terms Friday on one-year contracts with relievers Arodys Vizcaino and left-hander Ian Krol.
Vizcaino gets $1.55 million and Krol $900,000, each slightly below arbitration projections by MLBTradeRumors.com.
They were the only remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible Braves, and Vizcaino and Krol agreed to terms before a 1 p.m. deadline for teams to sign such players or swap salary-arbitration figures in preparation for potential arbitration hearings in February. Contract figures weren’t immediately available.
Former Braves pitcher Mike Minor won an arbitration hearing before the 2015 season, the only player who has gone to an arbitration hearing with the team since John Rocker in 2001.
It was the first year of arbitration eligibility for Krol, who made just over the major league minimum ($507,500) in 2016, and the second arbitration year for Vizcaino, who qualified as a “Super Two” arbitration player in 2016 and had an $897,500 salary.
If they had gone to arbitration this year, MLBTradeRumors.com projected a $1.6 million salary for Vizcaino and $1 million for Krol.
Vizcaino had a 4.42 ERA and 10 saves a career-high 43 appearances in 2016, enjoying a career-best first half in the closer’s role before struggling with shoulder and oblique strains (and an elbow infection) that limited him to a five appearances after the All-Star break between two stints on the disabled list.
He had 50 strikeouts and 26 walks in 38 2/3 innings in 2016, but the total numbers didn’t tell the story of Vizcaino’s tale-of-two-seasons type performance and injury-related struggles that quashed his All-Star candidacy and trade-market value in 2016 — and again cast some doubts about his durability.
“Viz” had a 1.93 ERA and .202 opponents’ average in 34 appearances through June 26, converting 10 of 12 save opportunities during that stretch with 45 strikeouts and 15 walks in 32 2/3 innings. But he posted an 18.00 ERA and .400 OA in nine appearances the rest of the way and gave up 12 earned runs and 11 walks with five strikeouts in six innings.
In light of his second-half injuries, the Braves decided to have Vizcaino, 26, rest and re-strengthen rather than pitch in winter ball.
Krol, 25, had a 3.18 ERA in 63 appearances in his first season with the Braves, with 56 strikeouts and 13 walks in 51 innings. That was after spending the first month of the season in Triple-A; he made a combined 75 appearances and pitched 63 1/3 innings between Triple-A and the majors.
When the Braves finished the season by going 18-10 in September, Krol pitched in 15 of their 28 games and was scored upon in only one of his appearances. He had 12 strikeouts with one walk in 8 1/3 innings in those 15 appearances in the final month.
The Braves got Krol and minor league lefty Gabe Speier from the Tigers in a November 2015 trade for Cameron Maybin, and Speier was subsequently traded to Arizona with Shelby Miller in the December 2015 blockbuster that brought Ender Inciarte, Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair to Atlanta.
Krol has a 4.73 ERA in 173 appearances over four seasons with Detroit and Atlanta, with 132 strikeouts and 51 walks in 139 innings.
Vizcaino is in his second stint with the Braves, who got him from the Yankees in a December 2009 trade, then traded him to the Cubs in 2012 when Vizcaino was recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery. They re-acquired him from Chicago in a November 2014 trade that sent Tommy La Stella to the Cubs.
Vizcaino was suspended for the first half of the 2015 season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drugs. After returning in early July he was dominant, posting a 1.60 ERA in 36 appearances during the second half of the 2015 and converting nine of 10 save opportunities.
From his July 7, 2015 return after the PED suspension through June 26, 2016, Vizcaino was one of the better relievers in baseball, posting a 1.85 ERA and .210 opponents’ average in 66 appearances while recording 79 strikeouts with 26 walks in 63 1/3 innings. He allowed just 13 earned runs in those 66 appearances and was being mentioned as an All-Star candidate and also drawing considerable trade interest near the midway point of the season.
But his injury problems began at the end of June with an elbow infection that sidelined him for the final days before the All-Star break. Then he strained an oblique July 15 in his first appearance after the All-Star break. He didn’t pitch again in the majors until Aug. 18, gave up four runs without recording an out in his first game back, and a week later he was DL’d again with a shoulder strain that effectively ended his season.
Vizcaino’s 12 earned runs in six innings during his final nine appearances of 2016 were just one more than he had allowed in his previous 66 appearances over nearly a 12-month span.
About the Author
