Reds, Mike Leake avoid arbitration

The Cincinnati Reds have avoided arbitration with right-hander Mike Leake, agreeing to a one-year, $3.06 million contract with the 25-year-old, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com:

Four down, three to go for Reds arbitration cases.

Early Wednesday morning, sources told MLB.com that RHP Mike Leake and the Reds agreed to a one-year, $3.06 million contract that avoids arbitration.

Leake had filed at $3.5 million and the Reds had countered with $2.65 million, so his salary is right about at the mid-way point between the two figures. The right-hander made just $507k last season, so he gets a solid $2.5 million raise in his first year of arbitration despite a down year.

Leake has been a fixture at the back of Cincinnati's rotation for three seasons now, and has been pretty consistent in his numbers across the board except for some variation in earned-run average. With Aroldis Chapman poised to join the rotation out of camp, Leake's place on the roster is unclear at the moment.

Related: Reds Taking Chance With Chapman

The youngster owns a 4.23 ERA, 2.4 BB/9 rate, and 6.0 K/9 rate over 485 innings in his time with the Reds, but has never been able to get his home run rate below 1.2 allowed per nine.

The Reds still have three players -- Shin-Soo Choo, Homer Bailey, and Mat Latos -- who are up for arbitration. If they cannot come to an agreement with the trio soon, they'll have to go to hearings with them.