Royals avoid arbitration with righty James McArthur

The Kansas City Royals announced that they have agreed to terms on a contract for the 2026 season with right-hander James McArthur, therefore avoiding arbitration. He will make $810K next year, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com.

McArthur, 29 next month, showed huge promise a few years ago but is a big wild-card now. He debuted with the Royals in 2023 by tossing 23 1/3 innings. His 4.63 earned run average wasn’t especially impressive but his 25.6% strikeout rate, 2.2% walk rate and 58.7% ground ball rate were all excellent. A tiny 54.5% strand rate seemed to inflate his ERA, which is why he had a 2.78 FIP and 2.65 SIERA.

That got him some run as the closer in Kansas City to begin 2024 but his results backed up. He tossed 56 2/3 innings that year with a 4.92 ERA. His 5.7% walk rate and 53.3% ground ball rate were still good but moved in the wrong direction, while his strikeout rate fell to a subpar 19.8% clip. He landed on the injured list in September due to an elbow sprain.

At some point in the 2024-25 offseason, he underwent surgery to repair a fractured olecranon in his right elbow, with two screws inserted. In July, Rogers reported that he wasn’t responding well to the screws, so they were removed. He didn’t pitch in any official game action for the year.

Though McArthur spent the entire 2025 season on the IL, he got his service time count up to two years and 150 days. That was just a bit past this year’s Super Two cutoff, there qualifying him for arbitration. Since he missed so much time, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a salary of just $800K, barely above next year’s $780K league minimum. Despite the modest projection, his uncertain health status made him a candidate to be non-tendered. Friday at 5 p.m. EST is the non-tender deadline.

Instead of moving on, the Royals will keep McArthur around and hope for better health and a bounce back. Perhaps that bodes well for his health outlook in the coming season, though they aren’t risking much by agreeing to a salary barely above league minimum. McArthur still has an option and doesn’t need to be kept on the big league roster.