Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers have a whopping 10 arbitration-eligible players in 2023, and they have agreed to terms with nine of them ahead of today’s deadline to exchange salary figures for arbitration. The sole player remaining unsigned out of the group is Tony Gonsolin.
| Player | Service (Years) | Projection (Millions) | Actual (Millions) | Source |
| Julio Urias | 5 | $13.7 | $14.25 | Link |
| Walker Buehler | 4 | $8.1 | $8.025 | Link |
| Caleb Ferguson | 4 | $1.1 | $1.1 | Link |
| Yency Almonte | 3 | $1.0 | $1.5 | Link |
| Will Smith | 3 | $5.2 | $5.25 | Link |
| Dustin May | 3 | $1.4 | $1.675 | Link |
| Trayce Thompson | 3 | $1.7 | $1.45 | Link |
| Brusdar Graterol | 2 | $1.2 | $1.225 | Link |
| Evan Phillips | 2 | $1.4 | $1.3 | Link |
| Tony Gonsolin | 2 | $3.5 | TBD | N/A |
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Update
Seems unnecessary for the Dodgers to haggle over that amount, but alright.
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The two notables for me are Urias and Almonte. Julio is getting a half million more than expected, which I’ll happily tell myself is a good sign that extension talks are taking place and/or are possible (probably not happening). Almonte got a surprising 50% more than projected and is right next to May with similar service time. Other that that, most of the projections were about spot on, which is why MLBTR projections are a nice tool to use.
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As far the future goes, obviously Julio’s looming free agency is the big question mark, but May staying healthy and performing could see a huge bump, while Smith and Gonsolin figure to continue a costly upwards trend. Barring some kind of cybernetic progress, Buehler will likely not see a huge jump and could be an extension candidate (if he’s willing), as the Dodgers like to pursue those types of deals for injured pitchers anyway. Relievers are so volatile that it’s hard to know what direction they’ll go year-to-year, but if Trayce can show last year wasn’t a fluke, he seems due for a sizable raise as well.
No CBA-breaking miracle here that would save the Dodgers from the luxury tax, so that’s definitely out the window now if you were holding onto hope for whatever reason.
