As the wait continues for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to meaningfully improve the club’s roster for 2024, the Red Sox took care of some league-mandated business.

Boston reached one-year contract agreements with all four of its arbitration-eligible players – Nick Pivetta ($7.5 million), Tyler O’Neill ($5.85 million), Reese McGuire ($1.5 million) and John Schreiber ($1.175 million) – before the league deadline to get such deals done, according to a major league source. While none of those players were in jeopardy of getting cut loose, the agreements mean the Red Sox won’t have to use an independent arbiter to determine their salaries for 2024. The deals also don’t preclude longer-term deals for any of the four.

Pivetta and O’Neill are both entering their final season before free agency. Pivetta, who is penciled into the starting rotation but may move to the bullpen if the club makes more additions, received a raise from his $5.35 million salary in 2023 and eclipsed MLBTradeRumors.com’s projection of $6.9 million with his $7.5 million agreement.

O’Neill, a right-handed hitting outfielder acquired from the Cardinals in a December trade, made $4.95 million last year in St. Louis and was projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to earn $5.5 million in 2024.

McGuire, the backup catcher to Connor Wong, got a raise from $1.2225 million in his second year of arbitration. MLBTR projected him a tick higher than his ultimate salary at $1.7 million. Schreiber, a middle reliever, earned $750,000 last year in his last pre-arbitration year; MLBTR projected him for $1.3 million.

All four players were tendered contracts before a separate deadline in November (when the club traded Luis Urías to Seattle and non-tendered Wyatt Mills). At the time, Boston tendered deals to Pivetta, Schreiber, McGuire and Alex Verdugo (before trading him to the Yankees) and O’Neill was tendered by the Cardinals before they traded him to the Red Sox. Those decisions guaranteed the tendered players would not hit the free agent market.

The four arbitration agreements combine for roughly $16 million, giving the Red Sox a solidified number as they look to build their payroll for 2024. Currently, they’re projected to have about $202 million of payroll commitments on the books, which is far short of the $237 million first competitive balance tax threshold.

By agreeing with all four players, the Red Sox avoided having to go through the arduous arbitration process for the fourth straight season. Their last hearing was in 2020 against lefty Eduardo Rodríguez; the team won.

BRAVES: Atlanta agreed to a contract extension with General Manager Alex Anthopoulos that will keep him with the six-time reigning NL East champions through the 2031 season.

Atlanta locked up the GM who oversaw a World Series championship in 2021 and has been responsible for securing long-term contracts with many of top players.

Anthopoulos was hired by the Braves after the 2017 season, when the organization had endured four straight losing seasons and was mired in a scandal over international signings. His predecessor, John Coppolella, was initially banned for life by Major League Baseball, though the penalty was lifted a year ago.

With Anthopoulos at the helm, the Braves began their run of division titles in 2018. This past season, Atlanta won a big league-best 104 games before being knocked off for the second year in a row by Philadelphia in the NL Division Series.

ARBITRATION: A total of 171 major league players agreed to contracts in the hours before and after Thursday’s arbitration exchange of proposed salaries with teams, and just one reached a multiyear deal: injured Tampa Bay left-hander Shane McClanahan.

McClanahan agreed to a $7.2 million, two-year contract that includes salaries of $3.6 million annually. He is not likely to pitch this year as he recovers from Tommy John surgery last August.

While 23 players swapped figures with their clubs, the vast majority eligible for arbitration agreed to one-year contracts.

After the swap, reliever Devin Williams and Milwaukee agreed to a $7.25 million, one-year deal that could be worth $18.5 million plus award bonuses over two seasons. He gets a $7 million salary this year, and the Brewers have a $10.5 million option for 2024 with a $250,000 buyout. The option price can escalate by up to $1 million for games pitched this year: $200,000 for 52, $250,000 each for 57 and 62, and $300,000 for 66.

GIANTS: Free-agent pitcher Jordan Hicks and San Francisco have agreed on a $44 million, four-year contract, a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a physical and had not been announced by the team.

The hard-throwing Hicks has spent most of his time in the bullpen during five major league seasons, compiling 32 career saves. But he made eight starts for St. Louis in 2022, and the Giants intend to add him to their rotation.

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