The Los Angeles Dodgers have yet to make decisions on their free agents or see any of them leave for other clubs, but Wednesday will bring about some roster activity due to the 5 p.m. PT deadline to tender a contract to players who are eligible for salary arbitration.
For the Dodgers that group consists of Scott Alexander, Austin Barnes, Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Dylan Floro, Corey Seager and Julio Urias. Any player who is non-tendered would immediately become a free agent; the Dodgers did so with Yimi Garcia last year.
There was some thought Alexander could fall into that boat, but instead he is the first to have reportedly avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1 million contract. According to Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times, Alexander’s deal is fully guaranteed:
The Dodgers signed Scott Alexander to a one-year, $1 million contract ahead of today’s non-tender deadline, per source, as @BNightengale first reported. The money is all guaranteed.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) December 2, 2020
Alexander was eligible for arbitration last offseason, when agreed to a one-year contract that also was fully guaranteed. Players who typically go through the arbitration process do not receive such a commitment.
Various projections had Alexander due to receive anywhere from $1 million to $1.2 million in salary for next season.
The southpaw appeared in 13 games this year, going 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA. Alexander was optioned to the Dodgers’ alternate training site on Sept. 2 and never got recalled. Alexander’s success on the field came after a battle with coronavirus (COVID-19), which delayed his arrival to Summer Camp.
“I had some mild symptoms but it wasn’t too bad,” Alexander said in August. “I just had a fever for one night. It was a pretty good fever. I never knew the temperature, but it happened to me in the middle of the night when I was sleeping. The headache was really the main symptom, but it only lasted for 24 hours.
“I mainly slept it off and was feeling good the next day. The hardest part about it was I had to quarantine for two weeks and then had about a week to 10 days where I was having a hard time of clearing the test to get back to the stadium.
“The hardest part was not being able to throw or do any activities for those three weeks, and then show up to camp with only about a week to go. That was honestly the biggest ‘symptom,’ was kind of being behind with everything. As far as physically, I felt pretty good about 24 hours after I started feeling not so hot.”
Dodgers arbitration history
Prior to last year, the Dodgers hadn’t had an arbitration hearing since defeating Joe Beimel in 2007. That streak was snapped after failing to come to terms with Joc Pederson, who also fell short against the team and later voiced frustration over the process.
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