Cubs, Ian Happ avoid arbitration

Arbitration figures had to be exchanged between players and teams by 12 noon CT today.

This led to my Twitter timeline being overrun with tweets about arb-eligible players and teams settling contracts early this afternoon.

Now, we have news of a settlement involving a Cubs player:

This is slightly above the MLB Trade Rumors estimate of $6.5 million for Happ.

Happ got off to a terrible start in 2021 and, for a time, was benched. But after the selloff, playing every day, he finally began to hit. From August 13 through the end of the season, Happ hit .323/.400/.665 (51-for-158) with 14 home runs in 44 games. That’s a fairly small sample size, but if he can continue to hit like that he’s a solid everyday regular.

There are two arbitration-eligible Cubs for whom contract details are yet to be made public: Willson Contreras and Harold Ramirez. Ramirez is not yet in camp.

If teams and players do not agree, arbitration hearings will be scheduled. Some of them might happen during the 2022 season, which will be an odd way of doing things:

As always, we await developments.