(Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports)
Good news for the San Diego Padres–they avoided arbitration with outfielder Will Venable, after agreeing to a one-year deal on Thursday that will earn him a little over $2.6 million for the 2013 season.
Venable appeared in 148 games for the Padres last season as he tied a career-high in batting average (.264) to go along with nine home runs and 45 RBIs. The outfielder will be entering his fifth full season with San Diego and now that he’s receiving a raise that he’s fought so hard for, it should be interesting to see if Venable can build off of last season.
Despite finishing 76-86 last season, there’s no reason why San Diego can’t compete for the NL West title in 2013. Venable certainly showed the potential at times last season that he was capable of becoming a key player for this Padres team, so hopefully that turns out to be the case with the regular season right around the corner.
While he’s still a few years away from becoming a free agent, it was certainly a smart move by San Diego to limit Venable to a one-year deal. As mentioned before, the outfielder has certainly showed potential at times, but he hasn’t been the type of player that displays monster numbers to make him worthy of a long-term deal.
Of course, if Venable suddenly puts up big numbers this season now that he’s earned some extra money with his new contract–it wouldn’t be a surprise if he changed his mindset down the road.
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