ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays agreed to terms Friday on one-year contracts with seven of their arbitration-eligible players, but they are now facing salary arbitration hearings with seven others to determine their salaries for the upcoming season.

Friday was the deadline for clubs to exchange salary figures with their arb-eligible players. The size of Tampa Bay’s 14-player class -- down from 19 at the beginning of the offseason -- was matched only by Milwaukee. Settling half of those cases still left the Rays with an unusually high number of hearings ahead.

The club agreed to deals with outfielder Randy Arozarena, catchers Christian Bethancourt and Francisco Mejía, starter Yonny Chirinos and relievers Shawn Armstrong, Jalen Beeks and Andrew Kittredge.

The Rays announced they will proceed to hearings with infielder Yandy Díaz, first baseman/outfielder Harold Ramírez, starter Jeffrey Springs and relievers Jason Adam, Pete Fairbanks, Colin Poche and Ryan Thompson. According to MLB.com research, seven hearings would be the third most ever for one team in one year; the A’s went to nine hearings in 1974, and the Pirates went to eight in 1990.

“All parties worked in good faith to find salary agreements before today’s deadline, and that will continue as we enter the next phase in this process,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “We look forward to better understanding our differences and having an appropriate salary determined for each player.”

Keep in mind: Teams cannot lose players during this process, which is strictly about deciding their salaries for the season. But these hearings, which will take place between Jan. 30 and Feb. 17, can often be an uncomfortable distraction for players. Their representatives make a case for the salary they filed for, the team’s side argues for its proposed payment, and a panel of arbitrators selects one figure or the other to be the player’s salary.

The Rays settled with all 13 of their arb-eligible players before the figure-exchange deadline last spring. They last went to a hearing in 2021, when they won their case against Ryan Yarbrough and lost their case against Ji-Man Choi.

Here are the agreements the Rays reached before Friday’s deadline:

Arozarena: $4.15 million
Mejía: $2.155 million
Kittredge: $2.075 million
Beeks: $1.375 million
Bethancourt: $1.35 million
Chirinos: $1.275 million
Armstrong: $1.2 million

It’s a particularly big raise for Arozarena, a “Super Two” player eligible for arbitration before reaching three years of service time, as he made $716,600 last season. He earned it by putting together an impressive finish in 2020, a record-setting postseason, an American League Rookie of the Year campaign in ’21 and another strong season last year. The 27-year-old has totaled 7.8 WAR with the Rays, per Baseball Reference, batting .269 with an .806 OPS, 47 homers, 169 RBIs and 56 steals over 317 regular-season games.

If there’s a common theme among the players who didn’t settle before the deadline, it’s that they present somewhat unique cases in a system largely based on past precedent and comparable players from recent seasons. That may help explain the number of unsettled cases, especially after the Rays had none last year.

Díaz filed for a $6.3 million salary, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported, while the Rays filed at $5.5 million. Ramírez filed at $2.2 million, per Feinsand, and the Rays at $1.9 million. Neither player boasts impressive power-hitting numbers or traditional “counting” statistics, which are typically rewarded in arbitration, but both are key contributors for Tampa Bay due to their on-base abilities and contact-oriented approaches.

Springs filed for $3.55 million, Feinsand reported, with the Rays coming in at $2.7 million. The left-hander is also a unique case as a reliever who struggled early in his career, was excellent before a season-ending injury in 2021, moved into the rotation early last season and turned into a dominant starter.

Fairbanks filed at $1.9 million, per Feinsand, and the team at $1.5 million, while Poche came in at $1.3 million compared to the Rays’ $1.175 million proposal -- the smallest spread between all the exchange figures filed Friday. Thompson filed for $1.2 million, with the team at $1 million, Feinsand reported. All three have been effective when healthy and figure to be key relievers again this season, but they’ve all missed an extended stretch over the last few years due to injuries.

Adam, a “Super Two” player like Arozarena, filed for a $1.775 million salary, according to Feinsand, and the Rays filed at $1.55 million. The 31-year-old reliever signed a split contract as a free agent last spring that guaranteed him $900,000 at the Major League level, then he broke out as one of the most dominant high-leverage relievers in baseball.