The Nationals finished a busy day of contract negotiations with arbitration-eligible players by coming to terms with catcher Wilson Ramos and reliever Jerry Blevins on one-year contracts for 2014.
Ramos will make $2.095 million in 2014, his first season eligible for salary arbitration. It is not known how much Blevins, who arrived in a December trade with Oakland, will make.
The Nationals could not come to terms with right-handed starter Doug Fister and ace reliever Tyler Clippard before Friday’s 1 p.m. deadline, and so, per the arbitration system’s guidelines, the sides will exchange salary figures. Using those numbers as endpoints, the sides will have about a month to come to a deal in order to avoid a hearing. Regardless, Fister and Clippard remain under the Nationals’ contractual control.
Clippard, who is eligible for the third time, will likely surpass $6 million in 2014 salary. Fister, eligible for the second time, stands to make roughly $7 million.