Red Sox Extend Arbitration Streak With Triston Casas, Tanner Houck Deals

In this story:
The Boston Red Sox haven't taken a player to arbitration since 2020, and they didn't plan on starting now.
On Thursday, arbitration-eligible players had to finalize their agreements for the upcoming season before negotiations had to cease. The Red Sox have a rule that allows them to negotiate multi-year deals after the deadline, which enabled them to avoid arbitration last year with outfielder Jarren Duran,.
This year, they needed no such extensions, as business was handled ahead of schedule.
If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.
Red Sox agree on salaries for final four players
According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the Red Sox avoided arbitration with all of their eligible players this season, four of whom entered Thursday without finalized agreements. Those four were Johan Oviedo, Triston Casas, Romy Gonzalez, and Tanner Houck.
Per Cotillo, the Red Sox and Casas settled at $1.61 million, Gonzalez got $1.6 million, and Houck, the former All-Star who will likely miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, got $4.15 million.
Ari Alexander of WHDH-TV reported that the Red Sox and Oviedo, the newest arrival to the starting rotation, settled at $1.55 million.
The Red Sox were projected to come in about $9.6 million under the luxury tax threshold after arbitration by Spotrac as of early Thursday afternoon, and that won't change by more than a couple thousand dollars once the accurate figures are inputted.
What Red Sox fans hope, of course, is that the team blows past that first luxury tax threshold by re-signing Alex Bregman, and even considers passing the second threshold, which is $22 million higer than the first.
Boston's last player to go to arbitration was left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, who lost his case in 2020. Boston successfully argued that Rodriguez was worth $8.3 million, rather than the $8.975 million he was requesting.
Arbitration proceedings being behind them means the Red Sox now have nothing to do before spring training but keep improving the roster. Just about every fans hopes Bregman will return at this point, but that's no guarantee it happens.
More MLB: Red Sox Can't Afford To Ignore AL Rival Lurking For Alex Bregman

Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Boston Red Sox On SI, please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org