KANSAS CITY -- The Royals avoided salary arbitration with six of their eight remaining eligible players on Thursday, the deadline to exchange figures in anticipation of an arbitration hearing if a 2026 salary has not yet been agreed upon.
They did not come to an agreement with first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino or starter Kris Bubic, and the two sides exchanged figures by the 7 p.m. CT deadline.
According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, Pasquantino filed at $4.5 million, and the Royals filed at $4 million. Bubic filed at $6.15 million, and the Royals filed at $5.15 million. Pasquantino is first-year arbitration eligible, while Bubic is entering his final year before becoming a free agent.
A hearing will be scheduled for the club and player to sit before a panel of arbitrators, which then selects either the player- or team-submitted salary figure as the player’s salary for the upcoming season. These typically happen at the end of February or early March.
Negotiations on a compromise can continue until the hearing begins, though the Royals don’t typically reach deals once the salary-exchange deadline passes. The Royals haven’t had a hearing since 2023, when they won their hearing with Brady Singer.
Salary arbitration is a process each offseason used to determine salaries for a select group of players for the upcoming season. Players who have between three and six years of service time -- with the exception of Super Two players, who get an extra season of arbitration -- are eligible for arbitration.
Here is what each Royals player settled for, according to sources:
Second baseman Michael Massey: $1.57 million
Center fielder Kyle Isbel: $2.7 million
Starter Bailey Falter: $3.6 million
Reliever Daniel Lynch: $1.025 million
Reliever John Schreiber: $3.715
Reliever Nick Mears: $1.9 million
The Royals had already avoided arbitration by agreeing to 2026 salaries with second baseman Jonathan India ($8 million) and reliever James McArthur ($810,000). They also signed third baseman Maikel Garcia to a five-year extension, which begins this coming season and covers what would have been four arbitration-eligible years. Garcia will make around $4 million in 2026.
Of the group that agreed to deals on Thursday, two were first-year eligible (Massey and Lynch). Isbel is in his second year of eligibility and earned about a $1 million raise from his $1.750 million 2025 salary after playing elite center-field defense while hitting .255 with a .654 OPS in 135 games.
Falter earned a $1.4 million raise from $2.2 million last year. The Royals acquired the lefty in a Trade Deadline deal with the Pirates last summer, but he only pitched 12 innings for Kansas City before ending the year on the injured list.
Schreiber is entering the final year of team control before free agency. He made $2.3 million in 2025 and posted a 3.80 ERA across 64 innings in the Royals’ bullpen. Mears, the reliever the Royals acquired with outfielder Isaac Collins from the Brewers last month, was also second-year eligible and received around a $1 million raise.