According to JCR, the Fish have agreed with Leo Nunez and Edward Mujica on one-year contracts, avoiding arbitration with the pitchers.
Expected to reprise his role as closer, Nunez will earn $3.65 million plus performance bonuses based on games finished. Mujica will make $800,000. Acquired from the Padres in the Cameron Maybin deal, Mujica was arbitration-eligible for the first time.
Nunez becomes the highest paid Marlins reliever under Jeffrey Loria's decade-long run as owner. The most this ownership group had ever spent on a reliever for one season was $3.5 million for Armando Benitez, who signed a free agent deal before the 2004 campaign. No other Marlins reliever since 2002 has earned more than $2.6 million
Jeffrey Loria's highest-paid reliever blew eight saves last season, and lost his job to Clay Hensley. But let's not dwell on the past.
Only two arbitration-eligible Marlins remain. Clay Hensley and Anibal Sanchez have yet to sign contracts for 2011.