Phillies and Alec Bohm can't agree on 2024 salary, Gregory Soto avoids arbitration
The team couldn't get a deal done with Bohm and will head to arbitration unless the two sides can come to an agreement before the hearing.
As all the 2024 salary agreement news came rolling in throughout the day on Thursday, a couple of notable names were absent from the Philadelphia Phillies news as the 8:00 p.m. ET filing deadline passed. While the Phillies agreed to terms for 2024 with pitchers Ranger Suárez and Jeff Hoffman as well as utilityman Edmundo Sosa earlier in the day, news on Alec Bohm and Gregory Soto remained missing.
As we now know, Bohm and the Phillies couldn't reach an agreement. Both sides will file their desired salary numbers and will head to an arbitration hearing, that is unless they can agree on a deal before the hearing.
Soto and the team did manage to come to an agreement before the filing deadline.
The Phillies have agreed to one-year contracts and avoided arbitration with pitchers Jeff Hoffman, Gregory Soto and Ranger Suárez and infielder Edmundo Sosa. The club will exchange salary arbitration figures with infielder Alec Bohm.
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) January 12, 2024
Bohm and the Phillies will file salary arbitration figures
According to Matt Swartz's model over at MLB Trade Rumors, Bohm is due for a large raise this season. The model predicts that the 27-year-old could receive $4.3 million in 2024. That's a bump up from his $748,000 salary in 2023.
Appearing in 145 games last season, he hit .274 with a .765 OPS and had career-highs with 20 home runs and 97 RBI in 611 plate appearances. The right-handed hitting Bohm wasn't as aggressive at the dish and improved his plate discipline in 2023. He dropped his swing rate to 70.1 percent, down from 73.8 percent in 2022 and reduced his strikeout rate to 15.4 percent — a career-best — from 17.4 percent in 2022.
Bohm's projections for the 2024 season expect him to put up similar numbers as 2023, except for his run production, which could drop off to a mid-70s RBI total.
Soto agrees to $5 million deal for 2024
Soto and his agents were able to come to an agreement with the Phillies on a reported $5 million salary for the 2024 season, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston.
MLB Trade Rumors' model predicted Soto's 2024 arbitration salary to land at $4.9 million after he earned $3.9 million in 2023. In his first season in red pinstripes, the 28-year-old appeared in 69 games for the Phillies, and while his 4.62 ERA doesn't look amazing, his 2.84 xERA, 3.59 FIP and 3.83 xFIP were all considerably better.
The lefty improved his strikeout rate to 26.0 percent last season, up from 22.8 percent in 2022 with the Detroit Tigers. He also posted a career-best walk rate of 8.8 percent. Projections for 2024 show him improving his strikeout rate even more, up to 27.2 percent, with his ERA normalizing at 3.60, which would bode well for the Phillies relief corps.
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