D-backs avoid arb with 9, including Peralta
Club also reaches 1-year deals with Ray, Walker, Lamb, Bradley but not McFarland
PHOENIX -- The D-backs' large arbitration-eligible class was reduced to one as the club reached an agreement with nine players prior to Friday's deadline for exchanging salary figures.
David Peralta, Robbie Ray, Taijuan Walker, Jake Lamb, Steven Souza Jr., Nick Ahmed, Archie Bradley, Andrew Chafin and Matt Andriese agreed to one-year deals, while catcher John Ryan Murphy was signed on Thursday.
That leaves left-hander T.J. McFarland as the lone unsigned arbitration-eligible player.
The D-backs are a "file and trial" team, which means once salary numbers are submitted to Major League Baseball, they will proceed to a salary-arbitration hearing rather than continue to negotiate.
Last year, Arizona took a similar tack with right-hander Shelby Miller, who won $4.9 million through a hearing.
Peralta, who won a National League Silver Slugger Award, signed the richest deal of the group at $7 million, a raise from the $3.3 million he made last year.
Left-hander Ray also received a large bump going from $3.95 million to $6.05 million.
Raises like that are one of the reasons the D-backs have been closely monitoring how they build their roster going forward. Players like Peralta and Ray got big bumps this year and the rest of the club's current core, including Walker, Lamb, Souza, Ahmed and Bradley, will only continue to get more expensive going forward as they progress through the arbitration process.
There was some speculation after the D-backs dealt first baseman Paul Goldschmidt that they would trim their payroll further by moving Peralta and Ray.
General manager Mike Hazen, however, has said publicly that the club believes it can compete in 2019 so it's not planning on dealing either player.
McFarland, who made $850,000 last year, was a valuable swing man for the D-backs in 2018, as he, at times, filled the role of a muti-inning pitcher and also coming into higher-leverage situations as the season went on. The 29-year-old made 47 appearances and compiled a 2.00 ERA and a 217 ERA+.