Red Sox Arbitration FAQ
- When is the MLB arbitration deadline?
- Which Red Sox players are arbitration eligible?
- How much are the Red Sox's arbitration-eligible players expected to get paid?
It is fair to say that this offseason for the Boston Red Sox hasn't been what fans had hoped for going in. Trading for Tyler O'Neill could have some nice upside if everything goes right and signing Lucas Giolito wasn't an uninteresting way to add some depth in the rotation, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone that thinks that the team's moves actually represent a significant improvement over their 2023 roster.
All of that is on the back burner for now, though, as today is the deadline for teams and players to either settle with their arbitration-eligible players on their 2024 salaries or file arbitration figures and head to a hearing later in the offseason. The Red Sox have a handful of guys that will be impacted today, so here is a look at what to expect.
When is the MLB arbitration deadline?
Well, the arbitration filing deadline WAS slated to be Friday, January 12th. The filing deadline always occurs in the middle of January to provide plenty of time to get individual arbitration hearings scheduled for players and provide some level of payroll clarity heading into the home stretch of the offseason for teams. However, a report from last night added a touch of chaos to the proceedings.
Just clarifying some other reports out there: The deadline for arbitration agreements tomorrow is 1 p.m. ET, not 8 p.m., per sources. The official exchange of figures among teams and players who haven't come to a salary agreement -- and are likely headed to a trial -- is at 8.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 11, 2024
Apparently, MLB and MLBPA agreed in December to move the arbitration filing deadline up a day. Why this wasn't made known to the general public until now and why this change was made is anyone's guess. However, what we do know now is that today, January 11th, at 1 PM is the deadline for teams and players to settle and avoid an arbitration hearing. If sides can't settle ahead of the deadline, each side must file their proposed salary figures for 2024 by 8 PM tonight.
Which Red Sox players are arbitration eligible?
Boston never had much of an arbitration class this year and one of the more intriguing arbitration cases they did have became moot when the Red Sox traded Alex Verdugo to the Yankees earlier in the offseason. Sending Luis Urias off to Seattle trimmed their list of arbitration-eligibles even more leaving just a handful of arbitration-eligible players on the roster.
The Red Sox did add Tyler O'Neill to their outfield mix this offseason who is still arbitration eligible along with holdovers Nick Pivetta, Reese McGuire, and John Schreiber. Again, not an earth-shattering class by any stretch of the imagination, but guys who do appear to be in line to get nice pay bumps in 2024 especially O'Neill and Pivetta who are entering their final year of team control.
How much are the Red Sox's arbitration-eligible players expected to get paid?
Projecting arbitration eligibility is notoriously difficult. Each team and each agent has their own methods for calculating player value and trying to figure out which method is best or the most accurate is a fool's errand as each case is very different. However, one source that has historically done a pretty good job of getting close to what guys end up getting paid is MLB Trade Rumors whose 2024 arbitration salary projections are the choice here. Let's take a look at how much they have the Red Sox's arbitration guys getting paid next season.
Player | Projected Salary |
|---|---|
Nick Pivetta | $6.9 million |
Tyler O'Neill | $5.5 million |
Reese McGuire | $1.7 million |
John Schreiber | $1.3 million |
Again, no one in this group is going to be getting Scrooge McDuck money in arbitration this year. Tyler O'Neill has plenty of talent, but his injury history gets counted against him in arbitration and that puts a pretty hard cap in how much he can expect to get. Reese McGuire and John Schreiber are fine, if replaceable, pieces of the roster who aren't going to make much and seem like prime candidates to settle ahead of the deadline.
Nick Pivetta's arbitration case is a bit more interesting, though. Pivetta got $5.35 million in arbitration last year, but that figure was formulated based on him only being a starting pitcher. Now that he has been used in a relief role more, that could hurt his arbitration case considerably. That said, MLBTR still has him getting $6.9 million which is a nice raise over his 2023 salary.