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.
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.
