The Los Angeles Dodgers got a head start on avoiding arbitration with their eligible players by agreeing to one-year contracts with both Scott Alexander and Austin Barnes last December.
Meanwhile, the team also tendered contracts to Pedro Baez, Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez, Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Ross Stripling, Chris Taylor and Julio Urias. Yimi Garcia was non-tendered, making him a free agent. Garcia later signed with the Miami Marlins.
Then ahead of Friday’s deadline to exchange salary figures, the Dodgers reportedly avoided arbitration with Stripling and Urias in the morning, and Bellinger, Hernandez and Seager later in the day.
That is not the case for Pederson, however, who is expected to be among the high-profile players who have an arbitration hearing, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
There are going to be some big names and extremely big numbers going to arbitration hearings, sources tell ESPN. Among them: George Springer, Trevor Story, J.T. Realmuto, Andrew Benintendi, Jose Berrios, Josh Hader and Joc Pederson. And there will be more.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 11, 2020
It’s worth noting Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hasn’t gone to arbitration at any point in his tenure with the team. The club’s last arbitration hearing was in 2007 with Joe Beimel.
Friedman is believed to be a proponent of the file-and-trial approach if an agreement is not reached by the deadline, but it’s plausible the Dodgers could continue negotiating with Pederson.
The 27-year-old is coming off season in which he batted .249/.339/.538 with 16 doubles, 36 home runs (career high) and 74 RBI over 149 games. Pederson again was primarily relegated to platooning against right-handed pitching, yet broke his own franchise record with nine leadoff home runs.
MLB Trade Rumors projected he would earn an $8.5 million salary in 2020. Pederson is due to become a free agent after the season, and has been mentioned in trade rumors this winter.
Along with Pederson, there yet to have been reports of the Dodgers coming to terms with Baez, Muncy and Taylor.
Arbitration hearings are scheduled to take place in February.
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