Monday marked the deadline for clubs to tender contracts to salary arbitration-eligible players on the 40-man roster. The Dodgers came up to the 8pm ET deadline with 10 arb-eligible players, after reaching 1-year deals with Scott Alexander and Austin Barnes.
Of the 10 players, 9 were tendered contracts. Those players are as follows, along with their projected salaries for 2020:
- Cody Bellinger; $11.6M (super 2 status)
- Pedro Baez; $3.3M
- Enrique Hernandez; $5.5M
- Max Muncy; $4.6M
- Joc Pederson; $8.5M
- Ross Stripling; $2.3M
- Corey Seager; $7.1M
- Chris Taylor; $5.0M
- Julio Urias; $1.7M
Veteran reliever Yimi Garcia was not tendered a contract and became a free agent, leaving the roster at 39.
Yimi Garcia was non-tendered. He was the only one for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers tended contracts to: Cody Bellinger, Pedro Baez, Kiké Hernández, Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Ross Stripling, Corey Seager, Chris Taylor, and Julio Urías.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) December 3, 2019
As noted by MLB.com, players tendered contracts have more than a month to work out new deals with their teams before exchanging arbitration figures on January 10, after which they can still work out a deal or go to a hearing.
While there are murmurs that the club may look to move one of Taylor or Hernandez, a sure-fire lock to make the club — and a lot of money — is Cody Bellinger. The slugger is coming off an NL MVP campaign and is projected to make the most ever for a first-year eligible player, besting Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant’s $10.85M in January 2018.
Analysis
The biggest surprise of the bunch seems to be the deal struck by Scott Alexander. After missing much of last season, the Dodgers acquired lefty Adam Kolarek at the trade deadline and he was as-advertised or better in his short time with Los Angeles.
With Caleb Ferguson expected to officially relieve full-time, according to Pedro Moura of The Athletic, it seems that Andrew Friedman likely views Alexander as additional lefty competition for spring training. Especially with Julio Urias being named to the starting rotation.
