MLB · P · Kansas City Royals
James McArthur
B/T R/R · 6' 7" · 230 lb · born New Braunfels, TX, USA · age 29 · draft 2018 rd 12 · played P 4 · MLB debut 2023-06-28
7 batters faced scored this season His season card →
Scout’s note
James McArthur, a 6'7" right-hander from New Braunfels, Texas, taken by the Royals in the 12th round of 2018, has 72 strikeouts in 75 career big-league games — contact rates that say he can get a batter but rarely dominates an inning.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
What he’s paid
ArbitrationA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s.
- 2026 salary
- $0.81M
- Tax hit
- $0.81M
- Service time
- 3 yr 150 d
- Options left
- 1 / 3
The deal A2
On the sheet: A2
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | Arb 3 | Arb 4 | Free agent |
| Tax hit | — | — | — |
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, Kansas City Royals.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $0.81M
- Guaranteed
- $0.81M
- Term
- 1 yr
- His class
- Arb
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary | Arb 1 | Arb 2 | Arb 3 | Arb 4 |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
Collect James McArthur
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
James McArthur cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →