Reds ink Leake, LeCure, Simon; continue talks with Bailey, Chapman

Published 12:10 am Sunday, January 19, 2014

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Reds agreed to a $3.05 million, two-year deal with reliever Sam LeCure on Friday and one-year contracts with starter Mike Leake and reliever Alfredo Simon, leaving them with two players in salary arbitration.

LeCure gets base salaries of $1.2 million this year and $1.85 million in 2015. The deal includes escalators and bonuses.

Leake agreed to a $5,925,000 deal after exchanging arbitration figures on Friday. Leake was asking for $6.2 million in arbitration, the club offered $5,650,000, and they met at roughly the midpoint. Leake is coming off his best season, going 14-7 with a 3.77 ERA in 31 starts.

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The Reds remain far apart with starter Homer Bailey, who asked for $11.6 million and was offered $8.7 million. Bailey went 11-12 last season with a 3.49 ERA and a club-high 199 strikeouts in 32 starts. He also pitched his second no-hitter in two years. Bailey made $5.35 million last season.

Closer Aroldis Chapman asked for $5.4 million while the club offered $4.6 million. The hard-throwing left-hander went 4-5 with 38 saves and a 2.54 ERA in 68 appearances with 112 strikeouts in 63 2-3 innings. First-year manager Bryan Price is considering using him for more than one inning at a time this season.

If they can’t reach an agreement, arbitration hearings would be held in February. All of Major League Baseball’s arbitration cases were settled without hearings last year.

The Reds settled with their other arbitration-eligible player on Thursday when outfielder Chris Heisey agreed to a $1.76 million, one-year contract.