Ortiz, Red Sox Avoid Hearing, Agree At $14,575,000

David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox have avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $14,575,000.

The deal was midway between the $16.5 million the designated hitter asked for last month and the $12.65 million submitted by the Red Sox, which matched his 2011 earnings.

A hearing had been scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Ortiz hit .309 with 29 homers and 96 RBIs last year. The 36-year-old became a free agent after the season, then accepted Boston's offer of arbitration under the last year of the old collective bargaining agreement.

Starting this fall, instead of arbitration teams may give their players qualifying offers equal to the average salary of the top 125 players ranked by salary.