Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
In news that floored everybody, Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner rejected the qualifying offers of $17.2 million to play 2017 with the Dodgers.
kenley jansen will, of course, decline the qualifying offer. record relief deal awaits (same with aroldis on the record)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 14, 2016
justin turner, of course too, will reject qualifying offer
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 14, 2016
#Traders
But seriously, this was always a foregone conclusion since both figure to sign for four years or more and for $70 million or more, and the offer was just to ensure that the Dodgers would get compensation in the form of draft picks should one or both not re-sign with the team.
I wasn’t even gonna post about it, and Dustin told me not to, but we needed #Content.
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In other news that’s more significant, Yasiel Puig declined to use the clause in his contract that would allow him to opt into arbitration this year.
Abreu opted in to arb, seeking higher salaries. Puig did not; he will still earn $6.5M in ’17 and $7.5M in ’18, and be arb-eligible in ’19.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 15, 2016
That means Puig will make $6.5 million in 2017 and $7.5 million in 2018 before hitting arbitration for one year in 2019 and then reaching free agency in 2020.
After his emergence in 2013-14 in which he had a .888 OPS (151 OPS+), finished second in NL Rookie Of The Year voting, and made an NL All-Star team, it seemed obvious that he would opt into arbitration. However, two injury-plagued seasons in 2015-16 in which he had a .748 OPS (105 OPS+) made betting on himself in arbitration a far more risky proposition.
While Puig would almost certainly make less money in 2017 in arbitration, a recovery of his old form in 2017 could lead to him making more in 2018 to compensate for that. As mentioned, though, it would be a risky bet on himself for likely marginal return, so taking the $14 million guaranteed seems like a rational choice here.
Whether he’ll be making that money with the Dodgers or not remains the question.
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Most importantly, given that Dustin wrote about J.D. Martinez yesterday, I can only make him take responsibility for this.
Giants Have Held Trade Talks With Tigers On J.D. Martinez https://t.co/nMW4BU4pGk pic.twitter.com/lqTsONbb6z
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) November 15, 2016
Way to go, buddy.
