Mariners reach agreements with all arb-eligible players, including Raleigh & Kirby

SEATTLE -- The Mariners knew all winter that most of their budgetary increases to player payroll would come in-house, and those formally arrived on Thursday ahead of the deadline for salary arbitration-eligible players to exchange figures with their clubs.

The Mariners had seven such cases, including high-profile first-timers Cal Raleigh ($5.6 million) and George Kirby ($4.3 million), who each made a big jump from around the MLB minimum of just under $800,000. All numbers were shared via a source.

Here’s a primer on the day:

What is salary arbitration?

Players with three or more years of Major League service time but fewer than six (when they qualify for free agency) can negotiate their salaries for the upcoming season. Those salaries are based primarily on comparable players who signed contracts in recent seasons. The player and the club were required to present a salary figure no later than Thursday at 11 a.m. PT.

If the player and club cannot agree to terms, a hearing is scheduled in February. A panel of arbitrators will hear arguments from both sides, then select the salary figure provided by the player or the club.

Players and clubs can continue to negotiate salaries between Thursday and a potential hearing on a one-year deal or a multiyear deal, which is typically how these negotiations settle.

What’s the situation for each arbitration-eligible Mariner (alphabetically)?

LF Randy Arozarena (second year, $11.3 million): The headliner to Seattle’s Trade Deadline last summer will receive a bump from the $8.1 million he earned in 2024, which was expected -- and was a driving force behind the Rays to deal him before he became too expensive for their budget.

RHP Logan Gilbert (second year, $7.625 million): Coming off a year in which he finished sixth for the AL Cy Young Award, it looked like Gilbert might earn a little more than what he and the team settled at. Still, it’s a nice raise from $4.05 million, and he’ll get four turns through arbitration instead of three since he achieved Super Two status after 2023.

RHP George Kirby (first year, $4.3 million): Most projections had him earning more, but he’s still positioned to re-enter the process over the next two years for sizable increases if he continues to put up the numbers he has since breaking into the league in 2022. Kirby made each of his 33 starts last year and was one of just nine pitchers to eclipse 190 innings.

C Cal Raleigh (first year, $5.6 million): “Big Dumper” was always going to be fascinating given that he was somewhat unprecedented for a first-year arbitration catcher who plays as much as he did (153 games), earned the AL Platinum Glove Award and led the position in homers again, with 34.

LHP Tayler Saucedo (first year, undisclosed): He had a 3.49 ERA and 106 ERA+ (league average is 100) over 38 2/3 innings across 53 games and missed a few weeks in May with a right knee hyperextension.

LHP Gabe Speier (first year, undisclosed): After a stellar start to the year, Speier battled a left rotator cuff strain that sidelined him almost two months, then struggled upon returning, eventually being optioned to Triple-A Tacoma for an extended stretch.

RHP Trent Thornton (second year, $2 million): He experienced some regression as the season went on, perhaps due to a heavier workload, after earning $1.2 million last year.

How often do cases reach arbitration?

Since president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto took over after the 2015 season, the Mariners have gone to arbitration twice. In 2023, Teoscar Hernández filed at $16 million while the team filed at $14 million -- a case the Mariners won. The other instance was in 2022 with Adam Frazier, who filed at $8 million against Seattle’s $6.7 million. In this case, the arbitrators sided with Frazier.

How will arbitration negotiations affect the rest of the Mariners’ offseason?

It won’t. The Mariners already had an idea of what their offseason budget would be -- with roughly $15 million to spend -- and the arbitration-eligible players and their projected salaries were already considered in that figure.