Rays reliever loses arbitration hearing against organization

Reliever Jason Adam lost his arbitration hearing against the Rays, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll make $2.7M for the upcoming season instead of the $3.25M his camp had been seeking.

Adam and the Rays went to a hearing for a second straight offseason. The right-hander was victorious a year ago, securing a $1.775M salary against the club’s filing figure of $1.55M. Things went in the opposite direction this winter, meaning Adam’s raise is a little less than $1M relative to last year’s sum.

The 32-year-old is coming off a second consecutive very strong performance. Adam turned in a 2.98 ERA through 54 1/3 innings, an impressive follow-up to a dazzling 1.56 mark in the previous season. He punched out 31.1% of opposing hitters, held 11 leads and tallied a career-high 12 saves. An oblique strain cost him most of September and kept him off the playoff roster.

Adam has appeared in parts of six seasons but didn’t break through as a consistent high-leverage presence until landing in Tampa Bay. As a result, he only has between three and four years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration two more times, allowing the Rays to keep him under club control until his age-35 season. Tampa Bay still has one more hearing this winter, as they’ve yet to settle on a salary for designated hitter/outfielder Harold Ramírez. That is one of five pending cases around the league; players have won seven of the 11 hearings thus far.