Boston Red Sox avoid arbitration with deals for eligible players

The Boston Red Sox have reached an agreement on one-year deals for the 2019 season with several eligible players to avoid arbitration.

The Boston Red Sox avoided arbitration with several eligible players by agreeing to deals prior to Friday’s 1:00 p.m. ET deadline.

Not everyone waited until the last minute. Tyler Thornburg signed a one-year deal at the end of November. Heath Hembree and Steven Wright followed more recently with similar deals.

That left nine arbitration-eligible players for the team to address heading into deadline day. If the sides are unable to come to an agreement in time, an arbitration panel is tasked with determining if the player will be paid what they asked for or what…