Tonight at 8PM Eastern is the deadline for clubs
to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players. The Red Sox have twelve such players:
Mookie Betts,
Xander Bogaerts,
Jackie Bradley Jr.,
Eduardo Rodriguez,
Brock Holt,
Matt Barnes,
Steven Wright,
Blake Swihart,
Brandon Workman,
Heath Hembree,
Tyler Thornburg and
Sandy Leon. The first
eight on the list are pretty much locks to be tendered contracts—the last four (Workman, Hembree, Thornburg, Leon), not so much. The player in
most jeopardy would have to be Thornburg, who has been a complete
bust since coming over from the Brewers in a trade for
Travis Shaw (who has
raked since the deal). One possibility is that all twelve will be tendered contracts
now (at a
combined cost of $21.965 million)—but then a few could be cut during Spring Training, without paying them the
total amount owed. Stay tuned!
