Thursday was the deadline for teams to avoid arbitration with eligible players for the 2024 season, which left the Los Angeles Dodgers with plenty of work to do.
The Dodgers went into the offseason with 13 players eligible for salary arbitration, but that had been trimmed to 10 over the last few weeks.
Wander Suero elected free agency after clearing waivers and being sent outright to the Minors, Yency Almonte signed a one-year contract and Victor González was traded to the New York Yankees.
Brusdar Graterol was among the Dodgers’ arbitration-eligible players still without a reported contract in place, but he agreed to a one-year, $2.7 million deal, and Alex Vesia is signing for one year as well, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic:
Source: Dodgers, Brusdar Graterol settle at $2.7 million to avoid arbitration.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 12, 2024
Source: Dodgers, Alex Vesia settled at $1 million to avoid arbitration.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 12, 2024
The Dodgers also agreed with Will Smith on an $8.550 million contract for the 2024 season, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
#Dodgers and Will Smith settled at $8.550 million, avoiding arbitration.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) January 12, 2024
MLB Trade Rumors projected Smith, coming off his first career All-Star season, would receive a $9.3 million salary for 2024. While he fell short of the projection, Graterol ($2.5 million) exceeded his. Vesia was projected to earn a $1.2 million salary this season.
Smith was going through the arbitration process for a second time, and it was the first for Graterol and Vesia.
Dodgers arbitration players
Earlier on Thursday, the Dodgers reportedly agreed to contracts with Walker Buehler, Caleb Ferguson, J.P. Feyereisen, Gavin Lux, Dustin May, Evan Phillips and Ryan Yarbrough.
Arbitration hearings are being held January 29 through February 16. A three-person panel hears cases and selects the figure of either the player or team, but not one in between, as the set salary.
The Dodgers’ last arbitration hearing was in 2020, when they did so with Pedro Baez and Joc Pederson. Baez won his arbitration case and received a $4 million salary for the 2020 season. The Dodgers had countered at $3.5 million, while MLB Trade Rumors projected a $3.3 million salary.
Pederson filed for a $9.5 million salary, and the Dodgers countered at $7.75 million. MLB Trade Rumors projected an $8.5 million salary for Pederson, but the arbitration panel wound up siding with the Dodgers’ figure.
Prior to Baez and Pederson, the Dodgers’ most recent arbitration hearing was against Joe Beimel in 2007, which they won as well.
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