CLEVELAND — Cleveland Guardians right-hander Ben Lively is among 29 players with two-to-three years or service time who are eligible for salary arbitration.
Boston outfielder Jarren Duran and right-hander Kutter Crawford as well as Seattle right-hander George Kirby are also among the so-called Super 2s along with fellow right-handers Shane Baz (Tampa Bay), Kyle Bradish (Baltimore), Edward Cabrera (Miami), Ryan Feltner (Colorado) and Andre Pallante (St. Louis). Atlanta left-hander Angel Perdomo just missed the cutoff.
Left-handers include Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels, who pitched a no-hitter against Tampa Bay as a rookie in May 2022, and Bailey Falter of Pittsburgh. Among the outfielders are MJ Melendez of Kansas City and Jarred Kelenic of Atlanta. Minnesota shortstop Royce Lewis also is eligible.
The cutoff was set at 2 years, 132 days of major league service, up from 2 years, 118 days last offseason. The cutoff was as low as 2 years, 115 days in 2019 and as high as 2 years, 146 days in 2011.
Washington right-hander Michael Rucker was the last player above the cutoff but became a free agent Monday after refusing an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester. Seattle catcher Seby Zavala would have been eligible but elected free agency last month.
Perdomo, who has 2 years, 131 days of service, is recovering from last year's Tommy John surgery.
Lively is just above the cutoff at 2 years, 133 days. The 32-year-old journeyman who's spent time in Korea as well as MLB made just $750,000 this past season after signing with Cleveland as a free agent, but ended up leading the Guardians with 13 wins while posting a 3.81 ERA. MLB Trade Rumors predicts he will make $3.2 million in arbitration this offseason.
Others eligible include Washington catcher Riley Adams, Detroit right-hander Beau Brieske, Seattle catcher Luis Campusano, Toronto shortstop Ernie Clement, New York Yankees right-hander Scott Effross, Miami catcher Nick Fortes, Miami left-hander Braxton Garrett, Pittsburgh right-hander Colin Holderman, Oakland right-hander Dany Jiménez, Detroit third baseman Andy Ibáñez, Colorado right-hander Justin Lawrence, Atlanta left-hander Dylan Lee, Chicago White Sox right-hander Penn Murfee, Toronto right-hander Zach Pop and San Francisco right-hander Austin Warren.
The top 22% of players by service time with at least two years but less than three are eligible for arbitration as long as they had at least 86 days of service this year. They join the group of three-to-six-year players.
Players and teams are set to exchange proposed salaries on Jan. 9, and hearings for those lacking agreements will be scheduled for Jan. 27 to Feb. 14 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Players were eligible after two years of service from 1974-85, and the threshold increased to three years in 1986. The Super 2 class began in 1991 at 17% and it increased to 22% in 2013.