On January 31 2018 — OF Mookie Betts of the Red Sox wins the first salary arbitration filing to be decided this off-season and will earn $10.5 million, a significant raise over his previous salary of $950,000. He will still be a huge bargain, as he will win the MVP Award and lead the Sox to a World Series title.

Betts filed for $10.5 million before last month’s deadline while the Red Sox countered with $7.5 million. At the hearing, each side makes an argument supporting their salary figure and the three-person arbitration panel picks either the salary the player filed or the salary the team filed. Nothing in between.

The 25-year-old Betts went into his first arbitration year with a strong case. He’s a career .292/.351/.488 (120 OPS+) hitter with 78 home runs and 80 steals in 508 games, and is a standout defensive right fielder. Betts is a two-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glover and he has received MVP votes in three seasons. That includes finishing second in the 2016 MVP voting.

Arbitration hearings are not the sexiest days on the baseball calendar, though they are pretty important. Here is everything you need to know about Betts beating the Red Sox in arbitration, and what it means going forward:

 @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@

[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Subscribe to This Day In Baseball” subscribe_text=”Get our latest Posts in your in box” subscribe_button=”GO” show_subscribers_total=”1″]