Red Sox, Andrew Miller agree on $1.9 million contract, avoid arbitration

Andrew Miller and the Red Sox will avoid arbitration after all according to Alex Speier, who reports that the team has come to an agreement on a one-year, $1.9 million contract with their left-handed reliever.

This closes the books on the final arbitration-eligible player for the Red Sox this year; the team has a streak of avoiding arbitration dating back to 2002. John Tomase has a quote which pretty much sums up why the Sox take such care to stay away from the table:

Andrew Miller is happy with $1,903,125 arb settlement, has no idea where the last $3,125 came from. "I'm glad it's over. I think it's fair."

— John Tomase (@jtomase) February 16, 2014

It may have taken a while to get the job done, but Miller is heading into the season without any lingering ill-will over his contract situation. Perhaps more important: the Red Sox didn't have to argue why he wasn't worth the $2.15 million figure he submitted, which can't be a pleasant or confidence-inspiring experience for the player.

Whether Miller was worth closer to his $2.15 million figure or Boston's $1.55 million, it's hard to imagine the roughly half-million dollar difference matters much to the a team working on the financial scale of the Red Sox. All-in-all, everyone wins.

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