Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Hello and welcome to arbitration agreement deadline day, where the Dodgers attempt to avoid heading to … well, arbitration with 10 players. Thankfully, they’ve done just that, agreeing to contracts with all 10 of them.
Let’s take a look at how those turned out.
======
So, in case you’ve been living under a rock, the Dodgers tendered contracts to all their arbitration-eligible players.
The Dodgers tendered contracts to the following arb-eligible players, RHPs Yency Almonte, Walker Buehler, J.P. Feyereisen, Brusdar Graterol, Dustin May, Evan Phillips, LHPs Caleb Ferguson, Victor González, Alex Vesia, Ryan Yarbrough, IF Gavin Lux and C Will Smith.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 18, 2023
There were 10 of them left, and according to MLB Trade Rumors, these are the salaries they were projected to get:
Will Smith: $9.3 Million
Walker Buehler: $8.03 Million
Ryan Yarbrough: $3.8 Million
Evan Phillips: $3.4 Million
Brusdar Graterol: $2.5 Million
Dustin May: $2.4 Million
Caleb Ferguson: $2.3 Million
Alex Vesia: $1.2 Million
Gavin Lux: $1.1 Million
J.P. Feyereisen: $1 Million
Of course, nowadays it’s pretty rare for players and teams to actually head to arbitration, as they don’t want to risk having to shit on their own player over like $100,000 or something.
Anyway, starting things off was Walker Buehler going for $8.025 million, basically exactly at his $8.03 million projection.
Dodgers settle with Walker Buehler at $8.025m to avoid arbitration, source confirms.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 11, 2024
Plus: $125,000 for LCS MVP, $125,000 for WS MVP. @ByRobertMurray had the agreement.
Caleb Ferguson then got $2.4 million, which was $100k more than projected.
Dodgers and LHP Caleb Ferguson settle at $2.4 million to avoid arbitration, per source.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) January 11, 2024
Dustin May settled at $2.135 million, over $200k less than projected.
Source: Dodgers, Dustin May settled at $2.135 million to avoid arbitration.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 11, 2024
Ryan Yarbrough got $3.9 million, which is $100k more than projected.
Dodgers and LHP Ryan Yarbrough settle at $3.9 million to avoid arbitration, per source.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) January 11, 2024
Projected closer Evan Phillips got $4 million, a whopping $600k more than projected.
Source: Dodgers, Evan Phillips settle at $4 million to avoid arbitration.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 11, 2024
Returning from injury, Gavin Lux got $1.225 million, which is around $100k more than projected.
Dodgers and Gavin Lux settled at $1.225 million to avoid arbitration, per source
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) January 11, 2024
Still recovering from injury, J.P. Feyereisen received $770k, over $200k less than projected.
Dodgers and JP Feyereisen settled at $770k to avoid arbitration, per source
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) January 11, 2024
Brusdar Graterol got $2.7 million for something of a breakout year in 2023, a solid $200k more than projected.
Source: Dodgers, Brusdar Graterol settle at $2.7 million to avoid arbitration.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 12, 2024
Returning All-Star Will Smith got $8.55 million, which is over $700k less than projected despite setting an arbitration record for catchers.
#Dodgers and Will Smith settled at $8.550 million, avoiding arbitration.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) January 12, 2024
C Will Smith and the Dodgers settled at $8.55 million to avoid arbitration, per source. It’s a record for a second-time-eligible catcher.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) January 12, 2024
To close things out, Alex Vesia got $1 million, which is $200k less than projected.
Source: Dodgers, Alex Vesia settled at $1 million to avoid arbitration.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 12, 2024
======
Not that it really matters at this point considering their CBT number is already over the last threshold, but the Dodgers saved $325,000 over projections with these deals. The outliers were definitely Phillips making more and Smith making less, but even then, both projections missed by a less than a million bucks.
In total, the outlay for arbitration-eligible players will be $34,705,000.
Now … back to the cold stove.
