Taking a player to arbitration can have real risks for Major League Baseball teams, but the Kansas City Royals seem prepared to do it with first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino.
After the deadline passed to agree on a salary and avoid arbitration, it was revealed last week that the Royals had filed for a $4 million salary for Pasquantino, while the first baseman filed for $4.5 million. The Royals have three years left with Pasquantino before he’s scheduled to hit free agency, so they have to treat the situation carefully.
In the process of trying to save half a million bucks in a hearing, the Royals have to know that whatever they say about Pasquantino’s performance, the 28-year-old won’t soon forget. In fact, Pasquantino made that clear on social media on Tuesday.
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Pasquantino briefly talks arbitration on X
During a discussion about how the new reported park dimensions at Kauffman Stadium might affect play, Pasquantino confirmed he expects to go to arbitration with the Royals, and threw some preemptive shade about what he believed the club would say about him.
“I’m very curious how this is going to play out in multiple ways,” wrote Pasquantino. “And honestly, mostly from a data perspective (this hits close to home because I’m about to go into a room and hear how awful I am).”
Please don’t read this is you don’t care. This is too long and after I wrote it I felt dumb but I’ll still put it out there. At the end of the day our job is go win games that’s it.
I’m just going to respond like an adult.
I’m very curious how this is going to play out in… https://t.co/DFqbY7WVjt— Vinnie Pasquantino (@VPasquantino) January 13, 2026
On one level, it’s nothing new for players to hear that in arbitration proceedings, their teams will use any possible evidence at their disposal to convince the panel that the players are bad and shouldn’t be paid what they’re demanding.
But even if that’s the accepted practice, it doesn’t mean players are ready for what those proceedings will do to the player-team relationship. Pasquantino, to put it mildly, doesn’t seem thrilled about what the Royals are likely to say about his performance, especially if he feels that data regarding the home park he plays in improperly values him.
Pasquantino quickly rebounded and cracked some jokes on X after the fact, but the Royals clearly have put themselves in an awkward position.
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