Red Sox Offer Salary Arbitration to David Ortiz, Dan Wheeler

by Dan Duquette Jr. on Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:20AM

The Red Sox have offered salary arbitration to designated hitter David Ortiz.

The team made the announcement Wednesday and also opted to offer arbitration to reliever Dan Wheeler, while declining to offer it to Jason Varitek, J.D. Drew, Tim Wakefield, Erik Bedard, Trever Miller and Conor Jackson. The deadline for the team to offer arbitration was at midnight on Wednesday.

Ortiz and Wheeler will have until Dec. 7 to accept or decline the team’s offer, but there’s no deadline for the Red Sox continuing their negotiations or signing players after that date.

Ortiz is considered a Type-A free agent, while Wheeler is categorized as a Type-B free agent. Their free-agent type determines the compensation that the Red Sox would receive if either player declines arbitration and signs with another team.

Ortiz hit .309 with 29 home runs and 96 RBIs last season for the Red Sox. Wheeler went 2-2 with a 4.38 ERA in 47 relief appearances.