Sanchez files for
salary arbitration
With the kind of season he had this past year, Major League Baseball player Freddy Sanchez is hoping for a raise.
Sanchez, a Burbank High graduate who won the National League batting championship in 2006, was among 106 players who filed Friday for salary arbitration, hoping to receive big raises for next season.
Sanchez, who made $342,000 last year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, is eligible for arbitration for the first time.
American League Most Valuable Player Justin Morneau and AL batting champion Joe Mauer, both of the Minnesota Twins, also filed. Morneau made $385,000 last year; Mauer made $400,000.
Players and teams were set to swap proposed arbitration figures on Tuesday.
Sanchez is coming off a season filled with fine accomplishments. The 29-year-old right-handed hitter ended the year with a .345 average to win the league title.
Sanchez had 200 hits and led the National League with 53 doubles. He hit more two-baggers in a season than any player in Pittsburgh's history.
He contributed career-high marks in home runs (six) and runs batted in (85) in 157 games. Sanchez, who played second base, third base and shortstop, entered the season as a .280 lifetime hitter. He's now batting .313 in his career (346 for 1,104) in 330 games.
In July, he was one of seven players added to the 77th Major League All-Star Baseball Game at Pittsburgh's PNC Park, as he led all Major League players with 856,685 write-in votes.
In December, he was honored by the Baseball Writers' Assn. of America as the 2006 winner of the Tony Conigliaro Award.
— Jeff Tully
