A.J. Ellis Gets A Raise

Over the weekend, A.J. Ellis bundled up to attend the Packers/Cowboys game at Lambeau Field. Now, he be pretty happy about a nice raise for 2015. According to Jon Heyman…

aj ellis settles on 2015 deal with dodgers for $4.25M

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 13, 2015

…which is a nice bump from the $3.55 million he made in 2014. (And yet still below the $4.6 million he asked for in the process before 2014.)

Remember that even though Ellis had a pretty poor season, in large part due to multiple leg injuries, there wasn’t a scenario where he was going to come back for less money, because that’s just not how arbitration works. Once he got tendered, the two sides agreeing on a one-year deal for somewhat more than he made last season was always the likeliest outcome. Did he “earn” a raise? Well, yes, in the sense that this is how the collective bargaining agreement was negotiated. He exists, so he gets paid, and this is still peanuts compared to most other Dodgers.

Ellis has just over four years of service time, so he’ll be eligible for arbitration one final time next winter. With his new contract included in our payroll chart, the Dodgers have $243.375 committed for 2015, $218.1 million of which is in committed contracts, and still have pending arbitration cases with Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen, Juan Nicasio, and Chris Heisey. It’s nice to be rich.