Cleveland outfielder Choo gets raise, avoids arbitration

Cleveland Indians outfielder Choo Shin-soo has agreed to a one-year deal with the team, getting a $1 million raise while avoiding salary arbitration.

The Indians' Web site announced early Wednesday, Korean time, that Choo will make $4.9 million in 2012. Last year, he earned $3.975 million while struggling through a trying season on and off the field. The year before that, he made $461,000, barely over the major league minimum.

The left-handed right fielder was limited last year to 85 games, his fewest since becoming a full-time major leaguer in 2008, by injuries. He managed just eight home runs, 36 runs batted in (RBI) and a .259 batting average -- all his worst numbers since 2008.

In 2010, he hit 22 home runs with 90 RBIs -- both career-highs -- and also stole 22 bases while hitting .300. It was his second consecutive season of at least 20 home runs, 20 steals and a .300 batting average, making him the first Indians player with such a streak.

In May last year, his slow start to the season took a turn for the worse when Choo was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. A month later, he broke his left thumb when he was hit by a pitch from San Francisco's Jonathan Sanchez.

The young Indians still see the 29-year-old as a major building block and hope he can return to his previous form.

The Indians' payroll in 2011 amounted to $49.2 million, 26th among 30 major league clubs.

By agreeing to the one-year deal, Choo avoided salary arbitration for the second straight year. The Indians last went to an arbitration hearing in 1991.

Last year, the Indians sought to lock down Choo with a long-term deal without risking losing him to free agency after 2013. Scott Boras, the uber sports agent representing the Korean, wanted a series of one-year deals until free agency, assuming Choo would drive up his stock over the ensuing seasons and command a lucrative free agent contract later.

A highly touted pitcher in high school in South Korea, Choo made his major league debut in 2005 as an outfielder with the Seattle Mariners. He was traded to Cleveland in 2006 but didn't become a regular until the second half of 2008. (Yonhap)