Mariners Blog

Geoff Baker covers the Mariners for The Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout spring training, and during the season.

January 19, 2010 at 12:08 PM

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David Aardsma signs $2.75 million deal with Mariners

Posted by Geoff Baker

Mariners closer David Aardsma has avoided arbitration and signed a one-year, $2.75 million deal with the club. Aardsma earned roughly $420,000 last year, so it's a sizeable raise but quite expected given his 38 saves last season.

"Obviously, I couldn't be happier,'' Aardsma said, moments ago.

The trick to these negotiations was finding something comparable to Aardsma's situation in order to come up with a salary figure. There aren't too many first-year arbitration guys who jump to 38 saves overnight.

"It was a little comparable to what J.J. Putz did,'' Aardsma said. "So, we had to look to find something somewhat comparable and after that, just take it from there.''

The deal was actually finalized just before 6 p.m. yesterday. But the Mariners, as we know, have been busy with Felix Hernandez.

"I know that Felix takes precedence over me,'' Aardsma said with a laugh. "I'm sure they wanted to announce something with him first, then they would have gotten around to my deal. Like I said, I couldn't be happier. I can't wait for the season to start.''

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David Aardsma signs $2.75 million deal with Mariners

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