As the off-season keeps rumbling along, we’ve reached another milestone. Today at 5pm Pacific was the deadline for players to be offered a tendered contract for the 2020 season.
Yesterday, the Dodgers reached an agreement with relief pitcher Scott Alexander for one season at $875,000. As Dennis wrote on Saturday, Alexander spent most of the 2019 season on the injured list, due to various injuries. He was moved to the 60-day IL in August to make way for Dustin May‘s debut. Alexander ended up having surgery in September to fix a nerve issue in his left hand.
Many thought that Alexander might be one that the Dodgers would not extend a contract to, due to those injuries. But the Dodgers took care of him first, ahead of the eleven other players eligible on the roster. Alexander’s contract is fully guaranteed, which is not common for arbitration eligible players.
Although he was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City last season in favor of Will Smith, the Dodgers are bringing back Austin Barnes. They signed the backstop for one season at 1.1M, avoiding arbitration. He has two more seasons of arbitration after 2020, and is out of options. Barnes seems to be set up to be the backup to Smith in the upcoming season.
Those awaiting a new contract are Pedro Baez, Julio Urías, Ross Stripling, Yimi Garcia, Cody Bellinger, Enrique Hernandez, Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager and Chris Taylor. They were all tended new contracts, with the exception of Garcia.
Garcia gave up the most home runs among all the Dodgers relievers, at 15. As Dennis stated, on a team that has limited roster space for pitchers, Garcia did not match up with the rest of the roster. He is now a free agent.
There were some notable players around the league that were non-tendered. Old friend Charlie Culberson of the Atlanta Braves, who will forever live in Dodger lore is looking for a new team. If the Dodgers did not already have Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez, I’d love to see Culberson back with the team as a utility player. Blake Treinen was also not re-signed by the Oakland Athletics. While his 2019 season was marred by injury, he finished sixth in Cy Young voting in 2018. The Athletes might not have had room for him with their low payroll. He was projected to command a $7.8M salary. The reliever could be a good candidate for the Dodgers’ pitching staff to get right again.
Look for more information to follow when it is released by the organization.
