New York Mets sign Lucas Duda for $7.25 million

QUEENS, N.Y., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- First baseman Lucas Duda will avoid arbitration after signing a one-year contract with the New York Mets.

The contract is worth $7.25 million, according to Jon Heyman.

Duda, 30, hit .229 with seven home runs and 23 RBI last season, when he cashed in for $6.75 million. Duda will hit free agency next offseason. The left-handed hitter suffered through a stress fracture in his back for most of the 2016 season, appearing in just 47 games.

Newsday reported in November that Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said the club would tender Duda.

Duda hit 27 home runs and had 73 RBI in 2015. In 2014, he smacked a career-high 30 home runs and had 92 RBI. He is a career .246 hitter. The Mets picked Duda in the seventh round of the 2007 amateur draft.