ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Right-hander Drew Rasmussen and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided salary arbitration, agreeing Tuesday to an $8.5 million, two-year contract that could be worth up to $28 million over three seasons.
Rasmussen receives a $500,000 signing bonus and salaries of $2 million this year and $5.5 million in 2026.
Tampa Bay holds an $8 million option for 2027 with a $500,000 buyout, and the option includes $6 million in escalators based on health and $6 million based on starts.
The option price would increase by $1.5 million if he has 45 or fewer injured-list days related to his arm in 2026 and 75 or fewer IL days and is deemed to be healthy for 2027.
Alternatively, he has up to $6 million in escalation available under a second provision as long as he is found healthy for 2027: $2.5 million for more than 75 arm-related IL days or more than 105 total IL days; $3.5 million for 75 or fewer arm-related IL days and 105 or fewer total days; $4.5 million for 45 or fewer arm-related IL days and 75 or fewer total IL days; and $6 million for 15 or fewer arm-related IL days and 45 or fewer total IL days.
He has up to $6 million in additional escalators for games started in 2026: $500,000 for eight, $750,000 for 12, $1 million each for 16 and 20, $1.25 million for 24 and $1.5 million for 28.
A 29-year-old right-hander, Rasmussen had been set to exchange proposed arbitration salaries with the Rays on Thursday.
He had elbow surgery for the third time on July 24, 2023, when Texas Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister performed an internal brace procedure. Rasmussen returned to the Rays on Aug. 7 and had a 2.82 ERA and 0-2 record in four starts and 12 relief appearances. He struck out 35 and walked six in 28 2/3 innings, averaging 97.4 mph with his four-seam fastball.
Rasmussen had Tommy John surgery in March 2016 and August 2017. He is 20-12 with a 2.95 ERA in 50 starts and 44 relief appearances over five big league seasons with Milwaukee (2020-21) and the Rays (2021-24).
If the option is not exercised, Rasmussen would be eligible for free agency after the 2026 season.
Five Rays remain eligible for arbitration: right-handers Shane Baz and Zack Littell, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger, catcher Ben Rortvedt and shortstop Taylor Walls.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
FILE - Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen delivers against the New York Yankees in the first inning of a baseball game, May 11, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
ROME (AP) — An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed Wednesday and returned home, after her fate had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer arrested in Italy and wanted by the United States.
A plane carrying Cecilia Sala, 29, landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport, where Premier Giorgia Meloni was on hand to welcome her alongside Sala’s family members. Sala’s companion, Daniele Raineri, posted a photo of a smiling Sala greeting Meloni in the airport.
Sala’s liberation marked a major diplomatic and political victory for Meloni, whose recent visit to President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago retreat greatly enhanced her stature internationally at a time when Italy was negotiating Sala’s release.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
ROME (AP) — An Italian journalist detained in Iran for three weeks was freed Wednesday and was heading home, after her fate had become intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer arrested in Italy and wanted by the United States.
A plane carrying Cecilia Sala, 29, left Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that she had personally informed Sala's parents.
Iranian media acknowledged the journalist’s release, citing only the foreign reports. Iranian officials offered no immediate comment.
Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic, the official IRNA news agency said.
Italian commentators had speculated that Iran detained and held Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release in Italy of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before, on Dec. 16, on a U.S. warrant.
The U.S. Justice Department has accused Abedini and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a U.S. outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops.
Abedini remains in detention in Italy but has asked a Milan court to grant him house arrest pending an extradition hearing.
Sala’s release was met with cheers in Italy, where her plight had dominated headlines.
It came after Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida last weekend to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Meloni in a statement on X thanked “all those who helped make Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to re-embrace her family and colleagues.”
Meloni’s visit to Trump had a strong impact on the premier's international standing, which strengthened Italy’s hand in negotiations, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.
“Any time you can reinforce the credibility of a leader of a country at a particular moment, the stronger the country is,” he told Italy’s Sky TG24.
Sala's fate had become intertwined with that of Abedini. Each country's foreign ministry summoned the other's ambassador to demand the prisoner's release and decent detention conditions. The diplomatic tangle was particularly complicated for Italy, which is a historic ally of Washington but maintains good relations with Tehran.
Members of Meloni's cabinet took personal interest in the case given the geopolitical implications. Foreign Minister Antonio Tanaji and Crosetto hailed the diplomatic teamwork involved to secure Sala's release, which amounted to a significant domestic and diplomatic victory for Meloni.
But the release also posed a delicate political question for Italy given Abedini's status. The United States has complained in the past when Italy has lost track of suspects in the Italian judicial system awaiting hearings for extradition to the U.S.
Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, which had flagged Sala's detention as an attack on press freedom, cheered her release.
“Now the 25 journalists still held in Iranian prisons must also be released,” the group said in a social media post.
Since the 1979 U.S. Embassy crisis, which saw dozens of hostages released after 444 days in captivity, Iran has used prisoners with Western ties as bargaining chips in negotiations.
In September 2023, five Americans detained for years in Iran were freed in exchange for five Iranians in U.S. custody and for $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released by South Korea.
Western journalists have been held in the past. Roxana Saberi, an American journalist, was detained by Iran in 2009 for around 100 days before being released.
Also detained by Iran was Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held for more than 540 days before being released in 2016 in a prisoner swap between Iran and the U.S.
Both cases involved Iran making false espionage accusations in closed-door hearings.
Elisabetta Vernoni, mother of Cecilia Sala an Italian journalist who was detained on Dec. 19 as she was reporting in Iran, leaves Palazzo Chigi after meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in Rome, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
