Angels avoid arbitration with 5 players, add Suzuki

Updated Jan. 15, 2021 10:11 p.m. ET

Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels avoided arbitration with right-hander Dylan Bundy and four other players Friday.

The Angels agreed to 2021 contracts with Bundy ($8,325,000), left-hander Andrew Heaney ($6.75 million), right-hander Mike Mayers ($1.2 million), right-hander Felix Peña ($1.1 million) and catcher Max Stassi ($1.6 million). Two-way standout Shohei Ohtani is the team's last remaining player still eligible for arbitration.

The Angels also announced a one-year, $1.5 million agreement with catcher Kurt Suzuki, who played for Washington last season.

Ohtani asked for $3.3 million and the team offered $2.5 million. Ohtani had a rough year, batting .190 with seven homers and 24 RBIs in 175 plate appearances. He also performed poorly in his first two mound starts since 2018 before being shut down as a pitcher. Ohtani earned $259,259 in the prorated portion of his $700,000 contract in 2020.

Bundy had a standout debut season with the Angels after they acquired him from Baltimore, going 6-3 with a 3.29 ERA, a career-best 1.036 WHIP and 72 strikeouts against just 17 walks. He earned a prorated $1,851,852 portion of his $5 million salary. He gets a solid raise in his final year before free agency.

Heaney went 4-3 with a 4.46 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 12 mostly solid appearances while receiving a prorated $1,592,593 portion of his $4.3 million salary. Mayers was outstanding in his first season with the Angels after they claimed him off waivers from St. Louis in November 2019. He went 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA in a team-leading 29 appearances while earning the prorated $212,222 portion of his $573,000 salary. New general manager Perry Minasian got rid of most of last season’s underachieving bullpen, but Mayers remains a key piece in Anaheim.

Peña, a veteran reliever and occasional starter, went 3-0 with a 4.05 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 26 2/3 innings. He made the prorated $217,593 portion of his $587,500 contract. Stassi broke through as the Angels’ starting catcher in his first full season in Orange County, batting .278 with seven homers and 20 RBIs in just 31 games while making the prorated $296,296 portion of his $800,000 contract.

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