NEW YORK — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a salary arbitration hearing when the first baseman agreed Thursday to a $28.5 million, one-year contract on the day players and teams were to exchange proposed figures.
Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez also agreed to a one-year contract for $18 million.
Guerrero and Valdez can become free agents after the World Series.
Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, received $10.15 million from the Detroit Tigers two years before he’s eligible for free agency, more than three times what he earned the prior season.
Guerrero, son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, won a $19.9 million salary last year in a record high for an arbitration decision when a panel picked his figure rather than the Blue Jays’ $18.05 million offer.
Juan Soto set a record for an arbitration-eligible player when he agreed last year to a $31 million deal with the New York Yankees, topping Shohei Ohtani’s $30 million 2023 contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Soto became a free agent in November and signed a record $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets.
Guerrero wasn’t the only player to agree with the Blue Jays, as outfielder Daulton Varsho $8.2 million) and catcher Alejandro Kirk ($4.6 million) also reached one-year deals. The Astros, meanwhile, also reached deals with new third baseman Isaac Paredes ($6.625 million) and shortstop Jeremy Pena ($4.1 million).
There were 155 players eligible for arbitration at the start of the day and a majority were expected to agree to deals.
Among them:
For players failing to reach agreements, including new Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker and Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, hearings will be scheduled before three-person panels from Jan. 27 through Feb. 14 at St. Petersburg, Florida.
Players went 9-6 in hearings last winter, leading teams with a 353-266 advantage since arbitration started in 1974. The 15 hearings were down from 19 last year, when the clubs won 13, but up from 13 in 2022, when teams won nine. Players had a winning record for the first time since going 6-4 in 2019.
A total of 169 players were eligible for arbitration after the November deadline for teams to tender 2025 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters, down from 238 at the start of the prior week.
All agreements for arbitration-eligible players are guaranteed but deals that went to panel decisions are not.
San Francisco third baseman J.D. Davis and Mets right-hander Phil Bickford were released after winning their cases last year.
Davis received $1,112,903. in termination pay rather than a $6.9 million salary and Bickford got $217,742 rather than the $900,000. Davis then signed a $2.5 million deal with Oakland and Bickford got a deal with the Yankees that paid $1.1 million while in the major leagues and $180,000 while in the minors.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
