Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a salary arbitration hearing after the first baseman agreed to a $28.5 million, one-year contract on Thursday, the same day teams and players exchanged proposed figures.
Houston’s left-handed pitcher Framber Valdez also secured an agreement, signing an $18 million, one-year deal.
Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker requested the highest figure among players in arbitration, asking for $17.5 million, while the team offered $15 million.
Guerrero and Valdez are set to become free agents after the World Series. Guerrero, son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, earned a record $19.9 million last year when an arbitration panel chose his figure over the Blue Jays’ $18.05 million offer.
Last year, Juan Soto set a new record for an arbitration-eligible player by agreeing to a $31 million deal with the New York Yankees, surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s $30 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Soto later became a free agent and signed a historic 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets.
At the start of the day, 155 players were eligible for arbitration, with most expected to reach agreements.
For players who don’t finalize deals, arbitration hearings are scheduled from January 27 to February 14 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In arbitration hearings last winter, players went 9-6, improving their all-time record to 353-266 since the process began in 1974. The 15 hearings were fewer than last year’s 19, when teams won 13, but more than 2022’s 13, when teams won nine. It marked the first time players had a winning record since 2019, when they went 6-4.
After the November deadline for teams to tender contracts, 169 players were eligible for arbitration, a decrease from 238 the previous week.
All arbitration agreements are guaranteed, but deals resulting from panel decisions are not.
Last year, San Francisco third baseman J.D. Davis and New York Mets pitcher Phil Bickford were released after winning their cases. Davis received $1,112,903 in termination pay instead of a $6.9 million salary, and Bickford was awarded $217,742 rather than his $900,000 salary. Davis later signed a $2.5 million deal with Oakland, while Bickford joined the Yankees with a deal that paid him $1.1 million in the majors and $180,000 in the minors.
