The Boston Red Sox were able to avoid arbitration with several of their players on Friday. They agreed to a $27 million deal with Mookie Betts, an $11 million deal with Jackie Bradley Jr., and smaller deals with three of their relief pitchers.
However, there were two players that the team couldn't come to terms with, Andrew Benintendi and Eduardo Rodriguez. And now, each player will enter arbitration with the Red Sox.
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According to MLB Network's Jon Heyman, Benintendi submitted an offer north of $4 million for 2020 with the Sox coming in well below that.
Benintendi, 25, is coming off a season in which he hit .266 with 13 homers and 68 RBIs. The left fielder's .343 on-base percentage ranked fifth on the team among qualified batters.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez wanted a hair under $9 million and the Red Sox offered him about $700k less than that.
Rodriguez, who turns 27 on April 7, had a breakout season and was the Red Sox' best pitcher in 2019. The left-hander went 19-6 with a 3.81 ERA while striking out 213 batters in 203 1/3 innings pitched and finished sixth in the American League Cy Young voting.
We'll soon see how things shake out in arbitration. But with the Red Sox hoping to keep payroll down, they'll have to hope that they win at least one of these arbitration cases.