Frieri, Salas agree; Angels swap with Freese

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels settled half their arbitration cases Friday, agreeing to one-year contract with right-handers Ernesto Frieri and Fernando Salas while exchanging proposed figures with third baseman David Freese and right-hander Kevin Jepsen.

Frieri gets $3.8 million and Salas $870,000. Frieri was 2-4 with a 3.80 in 67 relief appearances last year, and Salas went 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 27 relief appearances for St. Louis.

Freese, also acquired from the Cardinals during last month’s winter meetings, asked for a raise from $3.15 million to $6 million and was offered $4.1 million. Jepsen proposed an increase from $1,181,250 to $1,625,000, and the Angels countered at $1.3 million.

The 30-year-old Freese was the MVP of the 2011 NL championship series and the World Series for his hometown Cardinals, setting a major league record with 21 postseason RBIs and hitting a game-ending, 11th-inning home run in Game 6.

Freese injured his back chasing a foul ball into the stands during spring training last year and batted .262 with nine homers and 60 RBIs. He hit .179 in this year’s postseason, going 3-for-19 (.158) with no RBIs in the six-game World Series loss to Boston.

Jepsen was 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 45 relief appearances with the Angels last year.