Twins avoid arbitration with Tommy Milone

Per Mike Berardino on Twitter, the Twins have avoided arbitration with Tommy Milone. Milone, the club's only left-handed starter currently in the running for a spot in the starting rotation, is the first of six arbitration-eligible players to be tendered by Minnesota.

#MNTwins have avoided arbitration w/LHP Tommy Milone. Will make $2.775 million in 2015, per source.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 16, 2015

After coming to Minnesota, Milone started in Triple-A before working his way into the Major League rotation. He made five starts and one relief appearance after the trade, totaling just 21.2 innings with an unsightly 7.06 ERA. Injuries played a part in what was a messy few appearances, with a still neck holding him out of action.

As a Super Two, Milone will be eligible for arbitration four times before reaching free agency. In his first year he makes $2.775 million, which is a significant raise from the $510,000 he made in 2014.

Brian Duensing, Casey Fien, Trevor Plouffe, Eduardo Nunez, and Jordan Schafer are Minnesota's five other arbitration-eligible players. Salary arbitration figures will be exchanged by the club and the player's representatives on January 16, if no deal has been worked out by that date. Teams can then continue to negotiate with the player until an arbitration hearing takes place, which would happen between February 1 and February 21.