The Seattle Mariners whittled their arbitration list again Wednesday night, signing relief pitcher Brandon League to a one-year contract.
The signing leaves first baseman Casey Kotchman and, technically, pitcher Felix Hernandez still on the list of unsigned arbitration players.
Hernandez is all but signed. He reached agreement this week on a five-year, $78 million contract and arrived in Seattle on Wednesday for a physical exam. An official announcement of his contract will be made this afternoon at Safeco Field.
The Mariners won’t disclose terms of League’s contract.
He had filed for a $1.325 million 2010 salary at Tuesday’s arbitration filing deadline and the Mariners offered $900,000. League, acquired Dec. 23 when the Mariners traded pitcher Brandon Morrow to the Blue Jays, made $640,000 in 2009.
The 25-year-old League will fill a key late-inning role out of the Mariners’ bullpen. He pitched in a career-high 67 games last season with the Blue Jays, going 3-6 with a 4.58 earned run average, nine holds and 76 strikeouts. He recorded 2.33 ground balls to every fly ball, ranking eighth among American League relievers. On natural grass, he had a 2.30 ERA.
Kotchman filed for a $3.9 million salary and the Mariners countered with $3.135 million. He made $2.885 million last year.
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