The Los Angeles Dodgers managed to avoid arbitration with Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and others, but could not reach agreements with the likes of Pedro Baez, Max Muncy, Joc Pederson and Chris Taylor before the Jan. 10 deadline.
It set the stage for the Dodgers and the four players to have arbitration hearings this month, which would mark a first for L.A. since 2007 when they defeated relief pitcher Joe Beimel.
While Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman typically operates under a “file-and-trial” approach, an exception would be made if the organization could come to terms on a multi-year contract.
That came to fruition on Thursday when the Dodgers reportedly struck an agreement with Muncy on a three-year, $26 million contract extension, covering the remainder of his arbitration years and potentially the first of free agency as well. They then did the same with Taylor, although it was a two-year deal so did not buy out any free agent years.
While Muncy and Taylor avoided a potential arbitration hearing, the same can’t be said for Baez. He reportedly won his case and will have a higher salary than the was hoping for this season, via Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com:
Source: #Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez won his arbitration case and will make $4M in 2020. He was represented by Kelvin Nova, Jeff Fannell and his associate Kap Misir.
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) February 12, 2020
The discrepancy between Baez and the Dodgers was minimal as he filed at $4 million while the club countered with $3.5 million.
Baez is coming off one of his best seasons as a big leaguer, going 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 0.95 WHIP, and 69 strikeouts against 23 walks in 69.2 innings pitched. His emergence helped mitigate the ongoing struggles Joe Kelly and Kenley Jansen each had over various stretches.
Baez is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2020 season, and another strong showing would presumably put him in position for a nice payday.
As for Pederson’s arbitration hearing, he was not as fortunate as Baez as it was recently reported that he lost and will only make $7.75 million in his final year of club control.
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