The San Diego Padres have reached an agreement with four players — pitchers Enyel De Los Santos, Michael King and Adrian Morejon, and catcher Kyle Higashioka — on 2024 contracts ahead of today's deadline for arbitration-eligible players.
Only King's salary has been reported as of this writing:
New Padres starter Michael King agrees on a 1-year, $3.15 million deal. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 11, 2024
MLBTradeRumors.com projected a $2.6 million salary for King. The contracts terms are not yet known for Higashioka (projected to earn $2.3 million), De Los Santos ($1.2 million) and Morejón ($900,000).
Thursday's deadline is a soft one. Players and teams can continue to negotiate past the deadline and up to the day of their scheduled hearings
If they fail to reach agreements today, teams and players will submit a proposed 2024 salary, and a three-person arbitration panel will choose one side or the other at a hearing. Typically those hearings are conducted in late January and early February.
The Padres have not gone to trial over a player’s salary since Andrew Cashner in 2014. Cashner won.
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