Alex Vesia was among the arbitration-eligible players who was tendered a contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the deadline last November, which kept him and others under team control.
The Dodgers also did so with Anthony Banda, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips. They additionally got a jump start on avoiding arbitration with Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May by agreeing to one-year contracts with each pitcher.
Thursday at 10 a.m. PT was the deadline for players and teams to exchange salary figures, which led to plenty of activity.
According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Vesia and the Dodgers failed to come to an agreement on a contract by the deadline and now face an arbitration hearing:
Source: The Dodgers and Alex Vesia didn’t come to an agreement today to avoid an arbitration hearing.
Vesia filed at $2.35 million, the Dodgers at $2.05 million.
Vesia is the only arb-eligible player the Dodgers haven’t come to an agreement with.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 10, 2025
Vesia was eligible for arbitration a second time. MLB Trade Rumors projected Vesia’s salary for the 2025 season to be in the neighborhood of $1.9 million.
The 28-year-old appeared in a career-high 67 games and by some statistics had his best season. The Dodgers again relied on the southpaw to be among their options in high-leverage situations and not strictly for same-side matchups.
The year nearly ended in disappointment for Vesia as he suffered an intercostal injury during Game 5 of the National League Division Series. It prevented Vesia from being on the Dodgers’ roster for the NL Championship Series but he returned for the World Series.
Vesia threw 2.2 scoreless innings and appeared in four games against the New York Yankees.
Alex Vesia wants to add changeup
Already boasting an effective fastball that is paired with a slider, Vesia has continued to explore expanding his pitch mix to include a changeup.
He incorporated a changeup on occasion during the 2024 season, but quickly abandoned it after only throwing it 57 times. That presumably was tied to opponents producing a .313 batting average against Vesia’s changeup, which was in stark contrast to hitting .149 and .106 against his fastball and slider, respectively.
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