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Red Sox sign starter to arbitration deal, have 4 left to make (including trade addition) before Thursday
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- Red Sox sign starter to arbitration deal, have 4 left to make (including trade addition) before Thursday
By Thursday, the Red Sox will have to attempt to reach deals with all of their arbitration-eligible players — or be forced to have an independent panel determine their 2026 salaries. On Tuesday, Boston got a head-start on that business.
The Red Sox avoided arbitration with right-handed starter Kutter Crawford , signing him to a one-year, $2.75 million contract, according to a source. It’s the same salary Crawford received in 2025, when he missed the entire season due to injury.
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Crawford was arbitration-eligible for the first time in 2025 after a strong 2024 season that saw him lead the Red Sox in innings (183 ⅔) and starts (33) and posted a 4.36 ERA. He began the year on the injured list with a lingering knee injury he suffered early in 2024, then hurt his wrist in an off-field accident over the summer. On July 2, he had surgery “to reconstruct the stabilizing sheath of the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) in his right wrist.” The expectation is that Crawford, who turns 30 on April 1, will be ready for Opening Day.
Players typically receive year-to-year raises in the arbitration process but it’s typical for players who miss an entire season to get the same rate. The Red Sox have Crawford under their control for three more seasons.
The Red Sox began the offseason with nine arbitration-eligible players — and added a 10th via trade — but don’t have that much business to take care of before Thursday. The four players with salaries yet to decide are Triston Casas (projected by MLBTradeRumors to make $1.7 million), Romy Gonzalez (projected $1.8 million), Tanner Houck (projected $3.95 million) and newcomer Johan Oviedo (projected $2 million). All of those players will remain under team control either way.
In addition to Crawford, the Red Sox signed Connor Wong ($1.375 million) and Jarren Duran ($7.7 million) to arbitration deals earlier in the winter. They non-tendered two eligible players ( Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Winckowski ) and traded another ( Brennan Bernardino ). The club will look to finish off the remaining agreements before Thursday and avoid going to an arbitration panel for the first time since 2020, when it faced off with Eduardo Rodriguez .
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