Padres, Kyle Blanks avoid arbitration, agree to one-year deal

Oft-injured outfielder Kyle Blanks has avoided arbitration with the San Diego Padres, agreeing to a one-year, $605k contract, a source has informed Jerry Crasnick of ESPN:

Kyle Blanks signs $605,000 deal to avoid arbitration with #padres, source says.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) November 19, 2012

Blanks, 26, appeared in just four games for the Padres this past year before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. Once a top prospect in the Padres organization – and ranked Baseball America’s No. 50 prospect prior to the 2009 season – the towering slugger has never been able to escape the injury bug. Blanks has spent more games on the disabled list than he has played over the past four seasons.

Blanks’ arm and leg injuries have limited him to just one hundred forty-six games over the last four years, in which he’s hit .219/.316/.421 with twenty home runs in four hundred eighty-eight plate appearances.