With the completion of their arbitration season on Friday, the Rangers stayed on course for what appears to be a slight reduction in the opening day payroll.

The Rangers worked out one-year deals for relievers Keone Kela and Jake Diekman and infielder

Jurickson Profar. The Rangers have 16 players on the 40-man roster under contract a total salary,

including prorated signing bonuses, of about $139.6 million.

None of the remaining unsigned players have leverage in contract negotiations because of their

service-time status. That means the payroll for the 25-man opening day roster and players on the

disabled list will be about $146 million. That figure would slightly rise if a non-roster player makes the club.

The Rangers had an opening day payroll of about $165.3 million last season. Subtract payments

to Josh Hamilton and Prince Fielder under previous deals, and the payroll was about $154.3 million.

If the Rangers do not add a big-salaried player before opening day, they would start this season

with a 5.2 percent decrease in payroll. Per-game attendance dropped by 7.5 percent last season, to

30,960.

The four arbitration-eligible players - Diekman, Kela, Profar and outfielder Ryan Rua - did not

put a big dent in the budget. Their combined salaries rose from $4.64 to $5.83 million.

Kela, arbitration-eligible for the first time, more than doubled his salary. He went from $543,210

last season to $1.2 million, a 120.9 percent increase.

Diekman agreed to a salary of $2,712,500, a 6.4 percent raise over last season. Diekman missed

the first five months of last season while recovering from ulcerative colitis surgery.

Profar will earn $1.05 million, a 4.3 percent bump from last season. Rua previously accepted a

59.7 percent raise to $870,000.

Director of baseball operations Matt Vinola handles negotiations for arbitration-eligible players.

The Rangers have not taken a player to an arbitration hearing in this century. Their last case was against Lee Stevens, in 1999.

Twitter: @gfraley