The Los Angeles Dodgers reportedly have made their first free agent signing of the 2021 off-season, and it wasn’t Clayton Kershaw.
According to reports, LHP Andrew Heaney will be (re)joining the Dodgers. Heaney was once traded from the Miami Marlins along with Kiké Hernandez, Austin Barnes and Chris Hatcher to the Dodgers in 2014, only to be flipped to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Howie Kendrick two days later.
The deal is reportedly for one year, $8.5 million, pending a physical.
Heaney pitched for the Angels and then the New York Yankees this past season. His 2021 combined season stats were an 8-9 record with a 5.83 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 150/41 K/BB, and .256 opponents average.
However, he was also one of 15 pitchers in the major leagues with a 26.9 K% or higher, and a BB% of 7.3 or lower.
It is a low risk/high reward type signing that the Dodgers are fond of doing. More than a dozen teams had interest in the 30-year-old starter. He has been prone to giving up the long ball. But if the Dodgers see something in him that can be fixed, he could be 2022’s Robbie Ray.
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MLB awards season is now upon us. On Monday evening, all of the finalists for MVP, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, and Rookie of the Year were announced on MLB Network. Only one Dodger made any of the finalists.
Max Scherzer was named one of the three pitchers vying for the NL Cy Young for the 2021 season. Walker Buehler was not, as Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies was named along with Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Scherzer finished the season with a 15-4 combined record between the Washington Nationals and Dodgers, alongside a 2.46 ERA. He got even better once he arrived in Los Angeles, going 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA for his new team. He pitched 179.1 innings, and had the lowest WHIP of his career at 0.864.
Buehler also had a great season, going 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA, a season high 33 games started with 207.2 innings pitched. He had a 0.968 WHIP and a 6.7 WAR. His fumbling towards the finish line at the end of the season may have cost him his chance at his first Cy Young nomination.
In other Dodgers news, Corey Seager is reportedly turning down the $18.4M qualifying offer from the Dodgers. This was expected, as Seager is commanding a big contract out on the open market for the first time.
The Dodgers also extended a qualifying offer to Chris Taylor, who has until November 17th to make his decision.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Not bad. 106 wins and only one player up for an award.
Here’s the real scoop on why Heaney signed with us. He is originally from Oklahoma City and he realized that if he was bad enough to be optioned out, he’ll be right at home in OKC. Sometimes it’s the smallest of things that leads to a World Championship.
Most people think the major signings won’t happen until after the new CBA is finalized, but maybe Andrew has decided to strike quickly on some of the smaller moves, taking a page from the Anthoupolos playbook.
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Well there’s $8.5 million that could probably have been spent on someone more useful. I don’t get this move at all. Probably why I’m not a GM.
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I would think that Andrew has identified something in Heaney that he thinks can be improved to the point where he becomes a good major league starter. If he’s wrong, he’s just spent 8.5 million on the pitching equivalent of Billy McKinney.
According to some of the better MLB reporters, there were apparently a number of teams in on Heaney so maybe there is really something there to be unleashed after all.
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$8.5M for a 30 year old coming off a 5.83 ERA. Yes a high K rate, but also a very high HR rate. For Cy Young it’s one of the top three Leading K guys. IMO, there is way too much emphasis on strikeouts by pitchers. And the MVP candidates? None in either league comes from a playoff team. Just change the award to offensive player of the year. None of these players were League MVPs.
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Another low risk high reward signing. AF’s specialty.
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$8.5M for a 5.87ERA 30 year old seems excessive to me. There was a time when a pitcher who gave up 29 HRs in 129 innings got a one way ticket back to the minors. Not a raise. SMH.
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Bauer gave up 19 HR’s in 107 innings and the Dodgers paid that clown 40 mil. 8.5 for a low risk high reward pitcher seems pretty reasonable to me. A couple of tweaks, and he could be pretty good.
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