Tampa Bay Rays Beat Jeff Niemann In Arbitration Case

The Tampa Bay Rays won the arbitration case over right-handed starting pitcher Jeff Niemann today, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The two sides were $450K apart, and held their arbitration hearing earlier in the week.

With the win, the Rays are now 6-0 in arbitration hearings and are the only undefeated team in baseball. More importantly, the Rays will pay the first-time arbitration eligible Jeff Niemann their original $2.75 million offer instead of the pitcher's $3.2 million request.

Niemann, 26, posted a 4.06 ERA across 135 1/3 innings of work in 23 starts. The former fourth-overall selection in the '04 draft struck out a career best 7 batters per nine innings of work to just 2.5 walks, another career best.

• Twitter / @TBTimes_Rays: #Rays win arbitration case over RHP Niemann, he'll get $2.75M rather than $3.2M.
• Twitter / @TBTimes_Rays: #Rays are now 5-0 in arbitration in Andrew Friedman regime, 6-0 overall, only undefeated team in majors