Red Sox Avoid Arbitration With Nine Players But Fail To Reach Agreement With Mookie Betts
BOSTON (CBS) -- Friday marked the deadline for teams to come to terms with players in order to avoid arbitration, and the Red Sox reached agreements with several players. Mookie Betts was not one of them.
Betts, 25, is entering his first season as an arbitration-eligible player. And though his numbers dipped quite a bit from his near-MVP season in 2016 to 2017, his contract requests were apparently not close to what the Red Sox were offering.
Last year, the two sides also couldn't agree to a contract, which prompted the Red Sox to renew his deal (his third MLB season) at $950,000.
The list of players signed included Xander Bogaerts, Drew Pomeranz, Jackie Bradley Jr., Christian Vazquez, Brock Holt, Joe Kelly, Sandy Leon, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Brandon Workman.
Source: Xander Bogaerts to make $7.05 million in 2018
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) January 12, 2018
Drew Pomeranz reaches an agreement with the Red Sox on an $8.5M deal for 2018.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) January 12, 2018
Brock Holt has agreed with the #Redsox for $2.225 million.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 12, 2018
Source: #RedSox, Jackie Bradley Jr. settle at $6,100,000, avoiding arbitration.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 12, 2018
Reliever Joe Kelly jumps up to one year, $3.825 million contract with #Redsox
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 12, 2018
Vazquez's contract is for $1.425 million.
— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) January 12, 2018
For Pomeranz, that's a near-$4 million raise after he went 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA over 173.2 innings.
Bradley will be getting about a $2.5 million raise, after he batted .245 with a .726 OPS.
Earlier this week, the Red Sox reached agreements with reliever Carson Smith and starter Steven Wright.