Coming off arguably the best season of his career, Alex Vesia became arbitration eligible for the second time. He was also among the players who were tendered a contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the deadline last November.
That kept Vesia under contract for the 2025 season and also started the arbitration process. Thursday, Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. PT was the deadline for players and teams to exchange salary figures.
Of all the Dodgers arbitration eligible players, Vesia was the only one not to reach an agreement prior to the deadline, putting them on track for a potential hearing.
The Dodgers and Vesia each filed their salary figures for a potential hearing, with the difference being $300,000, according to Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, Vesia filed for $2.35 million, while the team filed at $2.05 million.
MLB Trade Rumors projected Vesia’s salary for the 2025 season to be in the neighborhood of $1.9 million, so both figures exceed that projection.
Although the two clubs did not reach an agreement prior to the deadline to submit salary figures, they can continue to negotiate a new contract.
If the two sides don’t come to an agreement, a neutral arbitrator will hear the cases for both sides and decide on the player’s salary for the upcoming season. In this scenario, there is no in-between to negotiate, the salary will either be what the player requested or what the club offered.
These arbitration hearings typically begin in late January and continue into February.
If Vesia and the Dodgers go to a hearing, it will be just the third under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. The previous two both took place five years ago with Pedro Báez and Joc Pederson in 2020.
Hearings have the potential to create some animosity from the player toward the team, so clubs typically try to avoid them whenever possible.
Regardless of the outcome, Vesia will be under contract with the Dodgers for the 2025 season, outside of a team decision to move on.
Dodgers avoid arbitration with four relievers, two starters
Earlier in the offseason, the Dodgers reached agreements with Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, who were both eligible for arbitration. Prior to the deadline, they also agreed to deals with Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Anthony Banda and Brusdar Graterol.
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