Feb 18, 2013 5 min read

NEW YORK – Major League Baseball pitched an arbitration shutout.

Reliever Darren O’Day completed a $5.8 million, two-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, becoming the final player to settle without a hearing among the 133 who filed for arbitration Jan. 15.

This was the first year since arbitration began in 1974 that no player who filed went to a hearing.

Baseball’s previous record low was three hearings, set in 2005 and matched in 2009 and 2011. Arbitration was suspended in 1976 and 1977 while free agency was put in place.

The high was 35 hearings in 1986, but teams have signed more of their young stars to contracts before hearings in recent years, giving many of them multiyear deals.

Owners won five of seven hearings in 2012.

O’Day gets $2.2 million this year and $3.2 million in 2014. The Orioles have a $4.25 million option for 2015 with a $400,000 buyout. The 30-year-old right-hander was 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 69 games last year.

Baltimore agreed to one-year deals previously with its other players in arbitration: right-handers Jason Hammel ($6.75 million) and Jim Johnson ($6.5 million), left-handers Brian Matusz ($1.6 million) and Troy Patton ($815,000), catcher Matt Wieters ($5.5 million) and first baseman Chris Davis ($3.3 million).

Brewers’ Gamel tears ACL again, out for season: Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Mat Gamel has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time in less than a year and will miss the season.

Assistant general manager Gord Ash made the announcement Monday.

The 27-year-old was injured May 1 at San Diego when he hit a wall while chasing Nick Hundley’s foul popup, cutting short his season after 21 games.

Gamel reinjured the knee during the first week of spring training and a MRI revealed the tear.

Corey Hart, who moved to first base after Gamel’s injury last year, is on crutches after right knee surgery on Jan. 25 and is expected to be out three-to-four months.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said candidates to play first until Hart returns include Alex Gonzalez, Hunter Morris, Bobby Crosby, Taylor Green and Sean Halton.

Cubs’ Garza to undergo MRI: Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza will undergo tests to determine the severity of the injury he sustained while pitching batting practice.

Garza, who made just 18 starts last season because of an elbow injury, felt a twinge in his side while throwing on Sunday. The Cubs called it a “mild strain” but general manager Jed Hoyer said Monday that the right-hander will undergo an MRI so team doctors will have a better sense of how long Garza will be sidelined. Hoyer said Garza will need a “rest period” and the tests should reveal “how long that is.”

Garza went 5-7 with a 3.91 ERA last year. He made his final start on July 21, when he left a game in St. Louis because of a “stress reaction” in his elbow.

Jeter takes part in most drills with Yankees: Derek Jeter has taken part in most of the drills during the New York Yankees’ first full-squad workout.

The 38-year-old captain participated in on-field batting practice Monday for the first time since ankle surgery last October. Jeter, who has been hitting in an indoor cage, also took part in a 25-minute defensive session at shortstop.

Although he didn’t take part in agility or running, Jeter jogged onto the field at Steinbrenner Field to a loud ovation from several hundred fans. They cheered when Jeter lined a ball to right on his first BP swing.

Jeter broke his left ankle lunging for a grounder in the AL championship series opener against Detroit on Oct. 1 and had surgery a week later. He says he will be in the lineup for opening day against Boston on April 1.

Clemens says he won’t ‘lose sleep’ over HOF vote: Roger Clemens says he’s “not going to lose any sleep” over failing to make the Hall of Fame last month.

Clemens was at spring training Monday as a special instructor for the Houston Astros, and he spoke for a bit with the team’s pitchers about his mental approach to the game. Later, he watched some of the Astros throw batting practice.

The 50-year-old Clemens seemed relaxed. Clemens was acquitted last year on charges he obstructed and lied to Congress in denying he used performance-enhancing drugs to extend his career. Last month, Clemens, Barry Bonds and everyone else on the ballot fell short of the necessary 75 percent of the votes to make the Hall of Fame.

Rangers top prospect Profar passing on WBC: Texas Rangers top prospect Jurickson Profar has decided against playing in the World Baseball Classic.

Profar has a chance to earn a spot on the Rangers’ 25-man roster and has informed the team he won’t leave camp to play for the Dutch team. The infielder turns 20 on Wednesday.

Texas general manager Jon Daniels said Monday that it was a tough decision for Profar, but that the team left it up to him.

Shortstop Elvis Andrus is among Texas players planning to go to the WBC. His absence from camp should provide extra time in spring training games for Profar.

Profar was called up last September and became only the third teenager in major league history to homer in his first at-bat.