Four Red Sox Players Avoid Arbitration on Exchange Date

The Boston Red Sox avoided arbitration hearings with their seven arbitration-eligible players this offseason. On Thursday, Triston Casas, Tanner Houck, Johan Oviedo, and Romy González each signed a one-year contract covering the 2026 season. @Alex Mayes and @Nick John previously wrote about Jarren Duran and Kutter Crawford’s deals, two of the team’s other arbitration-eligible players. Connor Wong also reached a $1.375 million agreement in November.

I’m not too shocked at any of these numbers. Tanner Houck and Johan Oviedo are in their second year of arbitration. Houck’s salary increased from $3.95 million in 2025 to $4.15 million in 2026, though he’s unlikely to see playing time as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Depending on how Johan Oviedo fares with the Red Sox, his contract could end up looking like a bargain. Romy González is a competent bench piece with positional versatility. Triston Casas, who was injured for much of 2025, is expected to return at some point during the 2026 season.

You often hear claims online that players don’t want to sign with the Red Sox because their front office treats players poorly. It’s a gray area for the team, which has traded away franchise cornerstones like Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers. But judging solely by the arbitration process, the Red Sox have treated players fairly by consistently avoiding hearings in recent years.

The last time the organization went to a hearing was six years ago, when Eduardo Rodríguez sought $8.675 million in salary, but lost his case and was awarded $8.3 million. Before that, Mookie Betts beat the team in 2018, earning $10.5 million, the highest salary the Red Sox have awarded through an arbitration hearing. Betts holds records for the highest salaries for a player in their second ($20 million in 2019) and third year of arbitration ($27 million in 2020), both of which were settled without a hearing.

With these four salaries settled, the Red Sox are roughly $4 million under the first CBT threshold of $244 million. Should free agent third baseman Alex Bregman accept the team’s reportedly aggressive offer, it would push the team well beyond it.