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Red Sox sign arbitration deals with 4 players, including trade addition, Triston Casas
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- Red Sox sign arbitration deals with 4 players, including trade addition, Triston Casas
The Red Sox spent Thursday taking care of some league-mandated housekeeping pertaining to a quartet of arbitration-eligible players.
Before the league's deadline to exchange figures (reach an agreement or have an independent panel determine a player's salary), Boston agreed to 2026 salaries with starters Tanner Houck ( $4.15 million ) and Johan Oviedo ($1.55 million) as well as infielders Triston Casas ($1.61 million) and Romy Gonzalez ($1.6 million), according to major league sources. The Red Sox will not go through the arbitration process with any of those players, marking six years in a row they've been able to avoid having an independent panel determine player salaries.
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Houck, who was projected by MLBTradeRumors to make $3.95 million, underwent Tommy John surgery in August after a brutal start to 2025 that saw him log an 8.04 ERA in nine outings, including blow-up starts in Tampa and Detroit . The 2024 All-Star will miss most — or all — of 2026 as he rehabs but could factor into the rotation mix down the stretch. Oviedo, who the Red Sox acquired in a five-player trade with the Pirates in early December , came with a $2 million projection. He and Sonny Gray will join Garrett Crochet , Brayan Bello , Kutter Crawford , Patrick Sandoval , Connelly Early , Payton Tolle and others in a new-look Red Sox rotation mix.
Houck made $3.95 million last year and will get a modest raise; Oviedo earned $850,000 from the Pirates after losing an arbitration hearing in January .
Gonzalez, arbitration-eligible for the first time, was projected to make $1.7 million by MLBTR. He'll return for a third year with the Red Sox and play against lefties, likely at first base and second base. Casas, who missed the final five months of last season after tearing the patellar tendon in his knee, enters 2026 in a different situation after the Red Sox traded for first baseman Willson Contreras . The at-bats to at-bats is less clear now for Casas, who was projected to make $1.7 million in his first time through the arbitration process.
Both infielders were pre-arbitration players last year , with Casas earning $774,000 and Gonzalez getting $740,000.
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None of the four players who signed were in jeopardy of being taken off the roster because Boston tendered them all contracts in December. Thursday's deadline was just a matter of agreeing to salaries in 2026. The Red Sox entered the winter with nine arbitration-eligible players and added a 10th in Oviedo but took care of most of their business before Thursday. The club had already agreed to deals with outfielder Jarren Duran ($7.7 million), catcher Connor Wong ($1.375 million) and Crawford ($2.75 million) while non-tendering two players ( Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Winckowski ) and trading another (Brennan Bernardino) . In total, the club's arbitration class of seven players (Duran, Houck, Crawford, Oviedo, Gonzalez, Casas and Wong) will combine to make $20.735 million. Currently, it's believed the Red Sox' payroll is right around the first competitive balance tax (CBT) threshold of $244 million. They'd have to significantly exceed that number to sign a free agent bat like Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman .
Houck and Oviedo are under team control for two more seasons, through 2027, while Casas and Gonzalez won't hit free agency until after 2028.
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