The Indians have avoided arbitration with Blake Wood, signing the right-hander to a one-year, $560K contract, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Wood was arbitration-eligible for the first time.
Wood was claimed off waivers from the Royals earlier this month. The 27-year-old posted a 4.30 ERA, a 1.72 K/BB ratio and a 7.0 K/9 rate in 106 relief appearances for Kansas City in 2010-11, and he underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2012. Wood's new $560K contract was slightly less than the $600K that MLBTR's Matt Swartz projected he would receive through the arb process.
With Wood's deal out of the way, the Tribe still has nine other arb-eligible players to settle contracts with for the 2013 season. You can follow all the offseason arbitration dealings for the Indians and every team via MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker.
