You don't have to earn a raise to get one in the arbitration process, it is assumed that every year of arbitration pays you more than the previous one unless there is an extreme reason not to. As for Gomez, his LD%, GB%, swings at pitches out of the zone, ISO, K% and B% all improved last year. This is a player showing growth even if it didn't come out in his slash stats. He pretty easily could be a 2 WAR player this season and with a little bit of a breakout he could reasonably reach 3 WAR. I don't think there is a reason to throw him under the bus just yet.