PHOENIX — Right-hander Zack Wheeler beat the New York Mets in salary arbitration on Thursday and reliever Justin Grimm lost to the Chicago Cubs, leaving players with a 7-4 record about halfway through this year’s hearings.
Wheeler gets a raise from $800,000 to $1.9 million instead of New York’s $1.5 million offer. Arbitrators John Skonier, Andrew Strongin and Phillip LaPorte made the decision, one day after hearing arguments.
Grimm was given a hike from $1,825,000 to $2.2 million by Mark Burstein, Gary Kendellen and James Darby. He had asked for $2,475,000.
A 27-year-old right-hander, Wheeler had Tommy John surgery on March 25, 2016, made one minor league appearance that August and returned to the Mets last spring. He went 3-7 with a 5.21 ERA in 17 starts.
Wheeler was sidelined by biceps tendinitis in June, went 0-2 in four starts when he returned while allowing 24 hits and 11 walks in 20 innings, then went on the DL for the rest of the season with what the team said was a stress reaction in his right arm.
Grimm, a 29-year-old right-hander, was 1-2 with a 5.53 ERA in 50 relief appearances, striking out 59 and walking 27 in 55 1/3 innings.
Cleveland pitcher Trevor Bauer went to a hearing Thursday, asking Strongin, Steven Wolf and Robert Herzog for $6,525,000 instead of the Indians’ $5.3 million offer.
Bauer, a 27-year-old right-hander, was 17-9 with a 4.19 ERA in 31 starts and one relief appearance for the AL Central champions last season, when he made $3.55 million. He is just the third Cleveland player to go to a hearing since 1991. The Indians defeated pitchers Vinnie Pestano and Josh Tomlin four years ago.
Eleven more players remain scheduled for hearings through Feb. 16.
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