Orioles Righthanders Johnson, Hammel Agree to One-Year Contracts

Baltimore Orioles righthanders Jim Johnson, who recorded a Major League Baseball-leading 51 saves in 2012, and Jason Hammel agreed to one-year contracts to avoid arbitration, the team said.

Johnson, 29, who was 2-1 with a 2.49 earned run average last year, set a franchise single-season record with 51 saves in 54 chances.

The Orioles didn’t release financial terms. The contract is worth $6.5 million with a further $50,000 in performance bonuses, the Baltimore Sun reported, without saying where it got the information. Johnson earned $2.6 million last year.

Hammel, 30, who was 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 20 starts for the Orioles in 2012, agreed to a contract worth $6.75 million with $300,000 in performance incentives, the Sun reported. Hammel earned $4.75 million last year.

Righthander Darren O’Day is the last Orioles player eligible for arbitration yet to sign a 2013 contract.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net