The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the offseason with nine players who were eligible for salary arbitration. The group comprised of Luis Avilan, Pedro Baez, Tony Cingrani, Josh Fields, Yimi Garcia, Yasmani Grandal, Kiké Hernandez, Joc Pederson and Alex Wood.
The club previously struck a deal with Garcia and has since traded Avilan to the Chicago White Sox, leaving seven remaining players to work out deals with.
Ahead of the deadline for clubs to avoid arbitration with its eligible players, the Dodgers have reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with Grandal.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, Grandal will earn $7.9 million this the season, which is up from $5.5 million the previous year:
Good day for catchers: Yasmani Grandal signs one year , $7.9 million contract with #Dodgers, avoiding arbitration
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 11, 2018
In 482 plate appearances across 129 regular season games, Grandal hit .247/.308/.459 with 27 doubles, 22 home runs and 58 RBI. His production equated to a league-average 100 OPS+ — which marked a career-low for Grandal since debuting in 2012.
The 29-year-old once again ranked near the top of the leaderboard in pitch framing and displayed his value behind home plate, accumulating 1.2 defensive WAR (Baseball-Reference).
Grandal was supplanted towards the latter stage of the season in favor of Austin Barnes, and received just two starts in the postseason. He went hitless in eight at-bats over four games, but drew three walks along the way.
Grandal is scheduled to reach free agency following the 2018 season and could join a historic class that features the likes of teammate Clayton Kershaw, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.
