Projected Rays arbitration salaries for 2019

Even though the 2018 postseason is still in full swing, for teams who are out of the hunt, now is the time to start thinking about offseason moves. Arbitration is a major factor in whether or not a team will chose to continue with a player, or make an effort to move them. In order to qualify for arbitration, a player must have more than three years of service time, but fewer than six, and if they do not have a contract in place for the coming season.

Ultimately, the point of arbitration is to allow for players to negotiate for a better deal for themselves over the offseason. If no agreement can be reached regarding the arbitration contract (either with a single or multi-year deal) then the contract will go to an arbitration hearing.

This offseason, six Rays players are eligible for arbitration. MLB Trade Rumors does an estimate of what their arbitration salary is likely to look like.

• C.J. Cron — $5.2MM
• Tommy Pham — $4.0MM
• Matt Duffy — $2.6MM
• Chaz Roe — $1.4MM
• Jesus Sucre — $1.2MM
• Vidal Nuno — $900K

Most experts believe it is unlikely the Rays will work out deals with Cron or Sucre, but a lot of the remaining players could be had relatively inexpensively. We won’t know how things pan out until the arbitration deadline in mid-January, but there is a chance agreements and deals could be made before then.