SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — First baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn and the Baltimore Orioles avoided a salary arbitration hearing when they agreed Wednesday to a $3.5 million, one-year contract.
The agreement was at the midpoint of the $3.8 million O’Hearn asked for and the $3.2 million the Orioles offered when the sides exchanged proposed arbitration salaries last month. The deal includes a $7.5 million team option for 2025, and the option price would escalate by $500,000 each for playing in 120 and 150 games this year.
O’Hearn, 30, set career bests last year with a .289 average and 60 RBIs and matched his high with 14 home runs. He earned $1.4 million.
He had been the last Orioles player still scheduled for a hearing.
Baltimore had a major league-high 13 players eligible for arbitration ahead of last month’s exchange and went to hearings with two, losing to outfielder Austin Hays ($6.3 million instead of $5.85 million) and right-hander Jacob Webb ($1 million instead of $925,000).
The Orioles agreed to one-year contracts with outfielders Anthony Santander ($11.7 million) and Cedric Mullins ($6,325,000); first baseman Ryan Mountcastle ($4,137,000); left-handers John Means ($3,325,000), Danny Coulombe ($2.3 million), Cole Irvin ($2 million) and Cionel Pérez ($1.2 million); right-handers Tyler Wells ($1,962,500) and Dillon Tate ($1.5 million); and infielder Ramón Urías ($2.1 million).
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