Mariners agree to terms with Mitch Haniger, Mallex Smith and Sam Tuivailala, avoiding arbitration
The Seattle Mariners announced Friday they had reached one-year deals for the 2020 season with outfielders Mitch Haniger and Mallex Smith, and reliever Sam Tuivailala, avoiding arbitration with all three players.
Terms of the contracts were not disclosed by the club, but Haniger reportedly settled with the Mariners at $3.010 million, Smith at $2.35 million and Tuivailala at $800,000.
Haniger, who is 29 years old and has been rumored as a possible trade piece for Seattle, is on track to bounce back from an injury-plagued 2019 season, when he missed 95 games with a ruptured testicle and ended the season on the injured list. He hit just .220/.314/.463 with 13 doubles, 15 home runs and 32 RBI in the 63 games he did play.
Smith, 26, led the majors in stolen bases (46) in 2019, but had an up-and-down year, opening the season with a nagging wrist injury and spending some of the spring with Triple-A Tacoma working to improve both his plate appearances and his fielding. He finished hitting .227/.300/.335 with 19 doubles, nine triples, six homers and 37 RBI in 134 games.
Tuivailala, 27, appeared in 23 games after returning from a long IL stay in July and finished 1-0 with a 2.35 ERA across 23 innings, and struck out 27 while walking 11.
Seattle has no arbitration-eligible players remaining.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 11:14 AM.
