The Phillies reached agreement on one-year contracts with their three remaining arbitration-eligible players on Friday and are now done with that process for 2021. In other words, the team will have no arbitration hearings.
First baseman Rhys Hoskins and pitchers Vince Velasquez and Jose Alvarado all agreed on one-year deals before going through the process of exchanging salary figures with the club Friday afternoon.
Hoskins, eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career, will earn $4.8 million in 2021, up from the $605,000 he was slated to make before the pandemic hit in 2020.
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SIGN UP HERE Since debuting in the majors on August 10, 2017, Hoskins ranks 12th in the majors in homers (91), 16th in RBIs (255), 19th in extra-base hits (183) and fifth in walks (269).
Velasquez will make $4 million, up from the $3.6 million he was slated to make pre-pandemic in 2020. Velasquez was eligible for salary arbitration for the third time and will become a free agent next offseason.
Alvarado, a lefty reliever recently acquired from Tampa Bay, was eligible for arbitration for the first time. He will make $1 million in 2021.
These signings leave the Phillies with $157 million in payroll committed for 2021. That number will rise significantly as the Phils still need to fill big holes at catcher and shortstop and sign players with less than three years of service time.
MLB
Last year, the Phillies were projected to pay just over $207 million in payroll before the pandemic hit. After suffering revenue losses in 2020, the Phils will not go that high in 2021, but they still have room to continue to be active in the free-agent market — they signed reliever Archie Bradley on Thursday — and are attempting to re-sign catcher J.T. Realmuto and shortstop Didi Gregorius.
The market for top free agents is starting to heat up. Closer Liam Hendriks signed with the White Sox earlier in the week and second baseman DJ LeMahieu returned to the Yankees on Friday.
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