For the second straight year, Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer has won his arbitration case against the Tribe and will earn $13 million for 2019, effectively doubling his $6.5 million salary from a season ago. He is now the fourth-highest paid on the roster for 2019, behind Carlos Santana, Corey Kluber, and Jason Kipnis.
The Indians had countered with a salary of $11 million in arbitration.
The significant salary bump should come as no surprise to fans who watched Bauer deliver a Cy Young-caliber season in 2018 before he was sidelined in August after being struck by a line drive to the ankle, resulting in a small stress fracture in his right fibula.