Sox tender seven contracts, sign Albers; non-tender Hill

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In a bit of offseason bookkeeping, the Red Sox tendered contracts to seven arbitration-eligible players Monday night, signed one other to a one-year contract and failed to tender a contract to another.

Tendered contracts were: Alfredo Aceves; Mike Aviles; Daniel Bard; Jacoby Ellsbury; Jed Lowrie; Franklin Morales; and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Both the club and players will submit salary arbitration numbers in January, with hearings held later that month. The Red Sox have not gone to an arbitration hearing in a decade, settling with players and avoiding hearings every time under former GM Theo Epstein.

The club and players may continue negotiating contracts until the date of the hearings.

The Sox reached agreement with pitcher Matt Albers on a one-year, 1.075 million deal with incentives, thus avoiding arbitration.

Finally, the Sox did not tender reliever Rich Hill, who underwent Tommy John surgery last June and isn't expected to be ready until midseason.

The Sox are free to continue negotiating with Hill - and, according to a baseball source, are interested in doing so -- but he is now officially a free agent.

Had the Sox tendered him a deal, he would have been eligible for salary arbitration despite being unable to pitch for at least half the season.

Players who go through the arbitration process are virtually guaranteed to make at least what they made the previous year and the Sox didn't want to run that risk with Hill.

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