Before Thursday's soft 1 p.m. ET deadline to agree to terms, the Red Sox settled on 2025 salaries with their three arbitration-eligible starting pitchers: right-handers Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck and left-hander Garrett Crochet.
The status of Jarren Duran, the team's fourth arbitration-eligible player, was unknown as of 4:55 p.m. ET. Any player that doesn't reach an agreement will exchange salary figures with their club at 8 p.m. ET Thursday.
As is often the case when players transition from pre-arbitration status to arb-eligible, the three homegrown Red Sox players are set to receive significant raises; Crawford and Duran made $760K last season, Houck made $770K. Crawford will make $2.75 million, Houck $3.95 million. Crochet, whom the Red Sox acquired from the Chicago White Sox during last month's MLB Winter Meetings, will earn $3.8 million in his first season in Boston.
Of the three pitchers, only Crochet exceeded projections. MLB Trade Rumors projected a $2.9 million salary for Crochet, $3.5 million for Crawford, $4.5 million for Houck, and $4.9 million for Duran. Spotrac was slightly lower on Duran ($4.11 million) and Houck ($3.75 million), but higher on Crawford ($3.85 million).
Six years of major league service time stand between a player and free agency: the first three making the league minimum (pre-arbitration) followed by three of arbitration. Duran and Crawford, however, were among the 29 players in this year's 'Super Two' class. Since 1991, the Super Two rule has fast-tracked a percentage of players - 22% since 2013 - to arbitration status a year early, giving them four years of eligibility. To qualify, a player must have at least two but less than three years of service time and have accrued a minimum of 86 days of service time the previous season.
Settling also doesn't rule out a long-term contract extension for Crochet; in January '23, the Red Sox and Rafael Devers avoided arbitration with a $17.5 million salary, one day before news broke of his franchise-record 10-year, $313.5 million extension. The Red Sox are serious about buying out the remainder of Crochet's club control, and a source confirmed MassLive's report that the two sides have already begun discussions.