The Diamondbacks have agreed with left-hander Doug Davis to a three-year contract worth $22 million. The deal, which pays Davis $5.5 million this year, $7.75 million in 2008 and $8.75 million in 2009, enables the two sides to avoid salary arbitration. Davis, 31, asked for $7.5 million in arbitration and the Diamondbacks offered $5.25 million. The difference of $2.25 million was the second largest among this year’s exchanges, topped only by the $4.475 million gap between the Cubs and right-hander Carlos Zambrano.
Davis is 62-63 lifetime with a 4.35 ERA, numbers comparable to that of Cubs left-hander Ted Lilly, who is 59-58 with a 4.60 ERA.