Closer Jonathan Papelbon heads the list of eight Red Sox players who are under team control for next year but are eligible for salary arbitration. Players who fall into that category have fewer than six years of major-league service time but more than three years.

There is a separate group of arbitration-eligible players, known as Super-2s, who rank among the top 17 percent of service time for players with between two and three years of service time and who spent at least 86 days in the majors in the previous season. This year, the cutoff for Super-2 eligibility was two years, 139 days in the bigs. The Sox do not have any players who qualify for Super-2 arbitration eligibility; in fact, during the administration of GM Theo Epstein, the team has had only one Super-2, when Bronson Arroyo qualified for salary arbitration in 2005.

The list, with 2009 salaries and career service time:

1B Casey Kotchman ($2.885 million): 4 years, 144 days

RHP Jonathan Papelbon ($6.25 million): 4 years, 64 days

OF Jeremy Hermida ($2.25 million): 4 years, 33 days

RHP Manny Delcarmen ($476,000): 3 years, 133 days

RHP Ramon Ramirez ($441,000): 3 years, 113 days

RHP Fernando Cabrera ($700,000): 3 years, 104 days

OF Brian Anderson ($440,000): 3 years, 53 days

LHP Hideki Okajima ($1.75 million): 3 years, 0 days

4 Comments for “Eight Red Sox Arbitration Eligible”

1. Gerry Says:
   November 13th, 2009 at 8:08 pm

   I don’t see Theo letting any of these get to arbitration. I can see a couple of these moving on. MDC and Ramon will be bargains even after arbitration, but Theo will probably sign them long term reasonable, and it’s about time. Pap and Oki should wind up happy on a one year deal. If Wagner comes back, will he earn more than Pap? I think not! Hermida is the interesting one, IMO. Is he a trade piece? Not for San Diego! Is he our future LF? What will be his value in arb? Will Theo give him a one year?

2. Art Says:
   November 14th, 2009 at 7:56 am

   Regarding the phrase you used: “fewer than six years.. but more than three years.”

   Art you trying to say “four or five years”? Do you know for a fact that is true?

3. Doc Says:
   November 14th, 2009 at 8:36 am

   Art, I think by saying “ewer than six years of major-league service time but more than three year” it does not mean four or five years. What it means is 3 years, one day (one day after 3 years of ML playing time) to 5 years, 364 days (one day before 6 years of ML playing time). This is why, when you see players listed for arbitration you generally see time given in years and days. Perhaps a better way to say it might have been “between 3 years and 5 years” or something but I believe he is using something close to the official MLB wording.

4. JARED Says:
   November 15th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

   WHAT about PITCHER BILLY WAGNER WILL ACCEPT ARBITRATION THIS OFFSEASOn.

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