While the Red Sox avoided arbitration with Jacoby Ellsbury, a big hurdle -- David Ortiz -- remains if new general manager Ben Cherington is to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Theo Epstein, who never went to arbitration in his time as Red Sox GM.

The Sox exchanged salary numbers with four players Tuesday, most notably Ortiz, who in December accepted salary arbitration after rejecting a two-year, $18 million offer from the club.

On Tuesday, Ortiz submitted a salary figure of $16.5 million, while the club came in at $12.65 million, a modest raise over the $12.5 million Ortiz was paid in 2011 and nearly $4 million less than Ortiz is seeking. Often a settlement is reached somewhere around the midpoint (in this case about $14.5 million), but Ortiz could gamble that an arbitration panel would decide that the Red Sox low-balled him and choose his number in a hearing.

The other arbitration-eligible Sox players to exchange salary numbers were pitchers Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Andrew Bailey, the newly acquired closer from Oakland. Aceves, Bard and Bailey all are arbitration-eligible for the first time.

Bard asked for $1.825 million while the team offered $1.4 million; Aceves filed for $1.6 million, with the Sox submitting $950,000; and Bailey is seeking $4.7 million, while the Red Sox are countering at $3.35 million.

The Red Sox haven't participated in an arbitration hearing since 2002.

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