UPDATE (Jan. 13, 4:50 p.m. PT): The Los Angeles Dodgers announced they avoided arbitration with Chris Hatcher by agreeing to a one-year contract.
After the Los Angeles Dodgers tendered contracts to six players last December, they had yet to re-sign with the club and filed for salary arbitration on Tuesday.
The group is headlined by Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner, but also includes Luis Avilan, Yasmani Grandal, Chris Hatcher and Scott Van Slyke.
This year marks the first time Avilan, Grandal, Hatcher and Van Slyke are going through the arbitration process.
A total of 156 players filed for salary arbitration, setting the wheels in motion for each player to exchange a figure with their respective club on Friday.
However, it appears the Dodgers and Hatcher won’t reach that stage as the two sides agreed to a one-year contract, according to Jon Heyman:
chris hatcher settles with dodgers for $1.065M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 14, 2016
The contract calls for Hatcher to more than double his 2015 salary of $522,500. After earning a save on Opening Day, the hard-throwing right-hander went on to struggle in his first season with Los Angeles.
He ultimately landed on the disabled list in June with an oblique strain and returned two months later. Upon coming off the 60-day DL, Hatcher was much improved. He posted a 1.31 ERA with 26 strikeouts over his last 22 appearances (20.2 innings) and opponents hit just .181/.253/.347.
Hatcher finished the season 3-5 with a 3.69 ERA, 3.39 FIP, 1.23 WHIP and averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings over 49 appearances (39 innings pitched).
Hearings for players who do not agree to a new deal will be held in February in front of a three-person panel. The Dodgers’ last arbitration hearing was in 2007 with reliever Joe Beimel.
