Colorado Rockies agree to terms with Jordan Lyles, avoid arbitration

The Colorado Rockies announced on Wednesday that they have agreed to terms of a one-year deal with pitcher Jordan Lyles. While Lyles was expected to be a non-tender candidate at the deadline this Friday, this deal allows the Rockies to keep his rights at a reduced cost.

Lyles was projected to make $3.3M in arbitration this offseason, a relatively steep price for a pitcher who had considerable struggles in his third year with the club. Going into his final year of arbitration, Lyles had his worst season in the majors.

After beginning the season as a starter and only getting through the fifth inning once in his five starts, Lyles transitioned into a bullpen role. There was hope that the shorter appearances would help him maintain focus and be able to dominate hitters that he only had to face once. While the results were better, they still left a lot to be desired, and it appeared that the Rockies were going to part ways with him instead of going through arbitration.

While the final terms of the deal have not been released, they are expected to be considerably less than what his projected arbitration salary would have been.

UPDATE 11/30 1:32 PM:

SBNation’s Chris Cotillo is reporting that the terms of the deal are one-year, $3.175M, a raise of $200K from last year.