Until Wednesday, Cubs team president Theo Epstein had avoided arbitration hearings for 15 years as a baseball operations boss for the Red Sox and Cubs.
He’s now 1-0 in cases after the Cubs beat reliever Justin Grimm in a decision delivered Thursday by the three-member arbitration panel.
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Grimm, 29, a right-hander who was acquired from the Rangers in the Matt Garza trade in 2013, makes $2.2 million this season. He had sought $2.47 million.
Last season he struggled with a 5.53 ERA and 1.337 WHIP in 50 big-league appearances and also spent time in the minors, where he had a 3.86 ERA in 10 relief appearances for Class AAA Iowa. He gave up 14 home runs in a combined 67 innings at the two levels.
He was the only one of six arbitration-eligible Cubs who didn’t settle on a 2018 contract the week salary arbitration numbers were to be exchanged last month.
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