Baseball - Arroyo and Reds 2 Year Contract Extensio

Bronson Arroyo and Cincinnati Reds have agreed to a 2 year contract extension worth $25 million. The extension will run through 2010. Arroyo’s previous contract contains $8,075,000 guaranteed salary of which $4,125,000 would be paid this year and $3.95 million next year, in 2008.

The contract offers Arroyo a signing bonus of $2.4 million which would be paid in 2008 and he would get a salary of $9.5 million in 2009 and $11 million in 2010. Cincinnati Reds have a $11 million for 2011 along with a $2 million buyout option. Depending on the innings, the price of option can increase to $13 million.

Arroyo has also agreed to remove a clause from the extension which could increased his salary by $325,000 in 2008 if he pitched 210 innings in 2007 and a $325,000 in performance bonuses in 2008.

Arroyo is NL All Star and he led MLB after pitching 240 2-3 innings. He went for 14-11 and has a 3.29 ERA. Arroyo is the first Reds pitcher to lead the league in innings pitched outright since Bucky Walters did it in 3 straight seasons from 1939 to 1941.

The Cincinnati Reds got Arroyo, who is 30 years old, from Boston in March 2006 in a trade for Wily Mo Pena. The Reds have also signed four year contract with Aaron Harang, who is their top starter. Along with Harang, Arroyo has won 16 games and pitched 234 1-3 innings. Arroyo and Harang became the first pair in the history of Reds to pitch 200 innings each and have 184 strikeouts.