Friday afternoon marks the deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players, and the Los Angeles Dodgers entered the day with 10 of them.
The group comprised of relievers Pedro Baez, Tony Cingrani, Josh Fields and Yimi Garcia, position players Kiké Hernandez, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager and Chris Taylor, and starter Alex Wood.
If the two sides want to avoid the arbitration process altogether then they have the ability to negotiate a contract at present time, and it appears the Dodgers have done that with one of their players.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Dodgers agreed to a one-year with Cingrani to avoid arbitration:
#Dodgers agree with LHP Tony Cingrani on one-year, $2.65 contract, fully guaranteed, source tells The Athletic. Most arbitration deals are not guaranteed.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 30, 2018
As Rosenthal stated, fully guaranteed contracts are rare for arbitration-eligible players, so it is nice to see that the Dodgers were willing to hand that out to Cingrani.
The southpaw was expected to be an essential part of the Dodgers’ bullpen in 2018, but his season was derailed by a shoulder injury.
Cingrani finished the year with a 4.76 ERA, 2.32 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, six walks and 36 strikeouts over 22.2 innings pitched. His 30 games were his fewest since the 2014 season.
He is still just 29 years of age though, so if he can get back to being healthy in 2019 then the Dodgers still view him as an essential part of their bullpen, particularly against left-handed batters.
After the Dodgers acquired Cingrani from the Reds at the trade deadline in 2017, he posted a 2.79 ERA, 1.86 FIP and 1.09 WHIP in 19.1 innings down the stretch of the season. So the hope is he can get back to that level this upcoming season.
