KANSAS CITY -- The Royals came to an agreement with all of their arbitration-eligible players ahead of Thursday’s deadline to exchange salary numbers for a potential hearing.

The club announced it signed Kris Bubic, Carlos Hernández, John Schreiber, Hunter Harvey, Kyle Isbel and MJ Melendez to one-year deals for the 2026 season. Right-hander Kyle Wright already agreed to a one-year, $1.8 million deal last month. According to sources, these are the salaries for each arbitration player signed Thursday:

Bubic: $3 million
Hernández: $1.16 million
Schreiber: $2.3 million
Harvey: $3.7 million
Isbel: $1.75 million
Melendez: $2.65 million

Bubic, Hernández, Wright and Schreiber are all in their second season of arbitration eligibility. This will be Harvey’s final season of team control, making him a free agent after the 2025 season. And Isbel and Melendez are both in the arbitration system for the first time.

Players who have three or more years of Major League service but less than six years of Major League service become eligible for salary arbitration if they do not already have a contract for the next season. If the club and player did not agree to a salary by Thursday afternoon, the two parties had to exchange salary figures for the upcoming season and schedule a hearing before a panel of arbitrators for February. Typically many teams, including the Royals, do not continue negotiations for a one-year contract with the player ahead of that hearing; that policy might change if a multi-year deal is in the works.

At the hearing, a panel of arbitrators hears arguments from both the player’s representation and the club and then selects either the salary figure of either the player or the club as the player’s salary for the upcoming season.

But the Royals won’t have to deal with that this year by settling with all of their players before Thursday’s deadline.

The arb-eligible Royals all received raises except for Wright, who missed all of 2024 after shoulder surgery and signed at the same amount he made last season. Harvey jumped up $1.35 million for his final season of arbitration eligibility. The 30-year-old reliever posted a 4.44 ERA between the Nationals and Royals last year but only made six appearances for Kansas City after it acquired him in early July ahead of the Trade Deadline. Harvey went on the injured list with mid-back tightness on Aug. 10 and never was able to get back on the mound. But the Royals believe a healthy Harvey could help their bullpen in 2025, especially at the back-end with closer Lucas Erceg.

Bubic, 27, made $2.35 million last year and jumped up slightly after posting a 2.67 ERA across 27 games in the second half of the season after returning from Tommy John surgery. The lefty will enter Spring Training competing for a spot in the Royals' rotation but showed how valuable he can be as a reliever, too.

Schreiber received a little over $1 million in a raise after posting a 3.66 ERA in the Royals' bullpen last season, striking out 46 across 51 2/3 innings. And Hernandez received just a slight bump from his $1.01 salary in ‘24, as the right-hander only appeared in 27 games for the Royals in ‘24, posting a 3.30 ERA across 30 innings.

Isbel and Melendez are both outfielders with vastly different skillsets. Isbel is the Royals' returning everyday center fielder because of his stellar defense, racking up 1.4 WAR, according to FanGraphs, in 2024, along with +9 Outs Above Average in center field. He slashed .229/.287/.367, but his value comes from his defense. Melendez recorded -0.3 WAR in ‘24 and struggled to find consistency with his bat, slashing .206/.273/.400 while striking out at a 25.1% clip. He hit 17 homers, though, and the power potential he still has earned him a bigger deal.

As of Thursday, all 40 players on the Royals’ 40-man roster were under contract for 2025.