Avoiding Arbitration: NL Central

Today is the day when teams and players are required to file salary figures for arbitration, and given that the hearing can often become contentious, all sides usually put a pretty earnest effort into avoiding going to such hearings.

With that in mind, numerous players have agreed to one-year contracts for the 2012 season on Tuesday in order to avoid arbitration and keep things a tad simpler. Here are the NL Central players that have avoided arbitration by agreeing to deals on Tuesday:

CUBS

- The Chicago Cubs and catcher Geovany Soto have agreed to a one-year, $4.3 million contract, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

CARDINALS

- The St. Louis Cardinals and pitcher Kyle McClellan have agreed to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration, according to B.J. Rains of FOXSportsMidwest.com.

BREWERS

- The Milwaukee Brewers and pitcher Francisco Rodriguez have agreed to a one-year, $8 million contract, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

- The Milwaukee Brewers and pitcher Kameron Loe have agreed to a one-year, $2.175 million contract, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

REDS

- The Cincinnati Reds and pitcher Bill Bray have agreed to a new contract, as the player announced on his Twitter feed.

PIRATES

- The Pittsburgh Pirates and pitcher Jeff Karstens have agreed to a one-year, $3.1 million contract, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

- The Pittsburgh Pirates and pitcher Evan Meek have agreed to a one-year, $875K contract, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.

ASTROS

- The Houston Astros and pitcher J.A. Happ have agreed to a one-year, $2.35 million contract, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLBTR.