Sources: Nola, Severino likely to arbitration

12:02 pm | January 11, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:

4:59 PM ET

Jeff PassanESPN
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Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola and New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino did not reach settlements on one-year deals for the 2019 season and are expected to head to arbitration hearings to determine their salaries, league sources told ESPN on Friday.

Severino and Nola are both first-time-eligible starting pitchers, a market that has been notoriously difficult for players. While first-time-eligible closers regularly exceed $6 million salaries, the only starting pitcher to do so was Dallas Keuchel coming off his Cy Young season with the Houston Astros.

The non-settlements capped a wild morning in which more than 100 eligible players negotiated their contracts. Those who did not come to terms with teams are expected to head to an arbitration hearing.

There were, however, some record settlements reached Friday.

• American League MVP Mookie Betts set a new standard for players with four or more years of service by settling with the Boston Red Sox for $20 million — a raise of $9.5 million over 2017, when he beat the Red Sox in an arbitration hearing.

• National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom more than doubled his salary with the New York Mets, jumping from $7.4 million to $17 million to set a record for the highest raise in arbitration, which had been set just hours earlier by Betts.

• Khris Davis, who led the majors with 48 home runs and was second with 123 RBIs last season, settled with the Oakland Athletics for $16.5 million — a raise of $6 million.

Nearly 200 players are in the arbitration system, which covers every player who has spent three, four or five full seasons in the major leagues and a small percentage of those with the most service days in the class of two-year players. Once a player reaches six full seasons of service time, he can become a free agent the following winter.