The Los Angeles Dodgers had seven players eligible for salary arbitration at the start of the offseason, with the group including Corey Seager. He was tendered a contract along with Austin Barnes, Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Dylan Floro and Julio Urias at the December deadline.
A day prior to that the Dodgers re-signed Scott Alexander to a one-year deal. Corey Knebel became another who was tendered a contract by the Dodgers after they completed a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers last month.
With Friday’s deadline to agree to a contract or exchange salary figures ahead of a potential arbitration hearing, the Dodgers and other clubs have been working on reaching new deals.
L.A. reportedly settled with Floro and Knebel on Thursday night, and Bellinger on Friday. They additionally are said to have avoided arbitration with Seager as well by agreeing to a one-year contract, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network:
Corey Seager, Dodgers agree: $13.75M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 15, 2021
In 52 regular-season games, Seager batted .307/.358/.585 with 15 home runs and 41 RBI, and most importantly, stayed healthy the entire year. Seager then was arguably the Dodgers’ best player in October as he hit .328/.425/.746 with eight home runs and 20 RBI in 18 postseason games.
He was named MVP of the National League Championship Series and World Series, and earned a selection to the All-MLB First Team.
Projection models had Seager in line to earn anywhere from $9.3 to $15 million in salary for this season. Unlike with Max Muncy and Chris Taylor last year, the Dodgers have yet to buyout an arbitration year with their eligible players.
That’s particularly noteworthy with Seager, who remains on track to become part of a star-studded shortstop class in free agency after the 2021 season.
Dodgers hopeful to keep Seager for longterm
It’s conceivable Seager and the Dodgers could still agree to a long-term contract extension at some point, and that possibility is one president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman certainly would support.
Friedman recently heralded Seager as having played a key part in the Dodgers’ success over the past several years and expressed hope to keep him with the organization moving forward.
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