The Los Angeles Dodgers have built a young core nucleus of players that should compete for National League pennants for many years to come.
The luxury of having so many young, impact players like Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger is that they are still on their rookie contracts. It allows the Dodgers to spend money elsewhere on the free agent market to fill holes, or stay below the luxury tax threshold like they plan to do this season.
Seager and the other young players deserve to be rewarded a bit for their contributions though, and that happened on Wednesday as in addition to Bellinger, Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes receiving a bit of a raise for the 2018 season, so too did Seager, via Ronald Blum of the Associated Press:
The Los Angeles Dodgers have renewed the contracts of 2017 NL Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger for $585,000 and of 2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager for $605,000.
Seager has been named a National League All-Star in each of his two full Major League seasons. In 2017 he hit .295/.375/.479 with 22 home runs and 77 RBIs, winning a Silver Slugger Award and finishing as a finalist for a Gold Glove.
In addition to the aforementioned players, the Dodgers also reportedly renewed the contracts of Kyle Farmer, Andrew Toles, Alex Verdugo, Ross Stripling, Dylan Baker, Wilmer Font, Scott Alexander and Adam Liberatore:
The Dodgers reached agreements with third baseman Kyle Farmer ($547,500/$88,900); outfielders Andre Toles ($555,000,$270,000) and Alex Verdugo ($547,500/$88,900); right-handers Ross Stripling ($555,000/$256,100), Dylan Baker ($547,500/$88,900) and Wilmer Font ($550,000/$88,900); and left-handers Scott Alexander ($555,000/$258,100) and Adam Liberatore ($565,000/$247,400).
Something the Dodgers have proven in recent years is that it takes more than 25 players to win a division and reach a World Series, as perhaps no other team has tapped into their depth at the same rate or frequency.
So while not all of the players they agreed to contracts to will be on the Opening Day roster, all of them will most likely contribute for the Dodgers at some point in 2018 as the team looks to win their sixth straight NL West title and their first World Series since 1988.
