BOSTON -- The Red Sox reached one-year agreements with nine players on Friday to avoid salary arbitration, including cornerstone lineup pieces Xander Bogaerts ($7.05 million) and Jackie Bradley Jr. ($6.1 million) and key rotation member Thomas Pomeranz ($8.5 million).
Friday at 1 p.m. ET was the deadline for teams to exchange arbitration figures with all eligible players.
The only arbitration-eligible player Boston did not reach a deal with is Mookie Betts.This is the first arbitration-eligible season for Betts, who is widely considered to be Boston's best all-around player.
The Red Sox submitted a figure of $7.5 million for their starting right fielder, while Betts countered at $10.5 million. The Red Sox and Betts can still reach a deal any time before a potential arbitration hearing in February. However, at this point, the expectation from both sides is that it will go to a hearing.
The other players who signed one-year deals are utility man Brock Holt ($2.25 million), catchers Sandy Leon ($1.95 million) and Christian Vazquez ($1.45 million) and pitchers Joe Kelly ($3.825 million), Eduardo Rodriguez ($2.375 million) and Brandon Workman ($835,000).
This is the last arbitration-eligible season for Pomeranz and Kelly, who will be eligible for free agency next season.
Bradley is a Super Two player and has two arbitration-eligible seasons left.
This was Vazquez's first arbitration-eligible season.
Earlier this week, the Sox avoided arbitration with knuckleballer Steven Wright and setup man Carson Smith by signing them to one-year contracts.