BOSTON — The Red Sox on Friday agreed to terms with nine of their remaining 10 arbitration-eligible players, with right fielder Mookie Betts the lone exception.
Friday marked the final day for teams to exchange salary figures in the arbitration process. While Boston and Betts could still come to an agreement before a trial, an industry source has indicated that Betts and the club plan to go to a hearing to determine his salary.
The Red Sox agreed to deals with Drew Pomeranz ($8.5 million), Xander Bogaerts ($7.05M), Jackie Bradley, Jr. ($6.1M), Joe Kelly ($3.825M), Eduardo Rodriguez ($2.375M), Brock Holt ($2.25M), Sandy Leon ($1.95M), Christian Vazquez ($1.45M) and Brandon Workman ($835,000).
That outlay of $34.3 million is in line with industry expectations. MLB Trade Rumors expected the Sox to spend about $35.4 million on those nine players.
Pomeranz and Kelly are each in their final year of arbitration and are eligible to become free agents at the end of 2018. Bogaerts and Holt have one more year of arbitration and can be free agents after 2019, while Bradley, Rodriguez, Leon, Vazquez and Workman have two years left before becoming free agents after 2020.
Boston's payroll currently sits right up against the luxury-tax threshold of $197 million. Any agreement with Betts should push the Sox beyond that threshold, as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has suggested they will all winter.
The Red Sox previously had reached agreements with arbitration-eligible players in Tyler Thornburg, Steven Wright and Carson Smith.
Betts' exclusion from the list is noteworthy if unsurprising. Last spring, he didn't agree to the salary dictated to him by Boston in the pre-arbitration process — a symbolic move more than anything else.
Eligible for arbitration for the first time, Betts stands to make something in the range of $8.2 million, according to Trade Rumors. Whatever he receives this winter will set the baseline for escalating salaries in each of the next two years before he becomes eligible for free agency following the 2020 season.
FanRag Sports has reported that Betts is seeking $10.5 million, compared to a Red Sox offer of $7.5 million, in arbitration. Kris Bryant's $10.85 million arbitration salary, agreed to with the Cubs Friday, is the record for a player eligible for arbitration the first time.
Also on Friday, the Blue Jays and Josh Donaldson set a new bar with a $23 million, one-year deal for an arbitration-eligible player. That's the kind of standard Betts can consider reaching and/or surpassing down the line, and it's one reason he becomes less apt to sign a long-term extension to buy out some of his free agent years with each passing season.