"The Cardinals sidestepped an arbitration hearing with reliever Jason Motte on Wednesday by reaching agreement with their incumbent closer on a one-year, $1.95 million contract.

The settlement means the Cardinals have avoided the possibility of an arbitration impasse with any of their players as their only other candidate, righthanded reliever Kyle McClellan, agreed to a $2.5 million deal earlier this month.

The club hoped to avoid an exchange of figures with Motte but ran out of time because of a schedule complicated by the annual Winter Warm-Up and a trip to the White House on Jan. 17. The club tendered a $1.5 million bid while Motte had requested $2.4 million. Wednesday's settlement represented the midpoint."