With the World Series concluding Sunday at Citi Field, the Major League Baseball offseason began Monday morning with players officially becoming free agents.
Free agency will dominate the Winter Meetings and fuel the Hot Stove season, then give way to the deadline for clubs to avoid arbitration. For the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brett Anderson, Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins became free agents this week.
Anderson and Kendrick are candidates to receive the one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer, while Rollins is unlikely to be re-signed.
As for arbitration-eligible players, the Dodgers’ group consists of: Luis Avilan, A.J. Ellis, Yasmani Grandal, Chris Hatcher, Chris Heisey, Kenley Jansen, Juan Nicasio, Justin Ruggiano, Justin Turner, Scott Van Slyke and Joe Wieland.
Via MLBTradeRumors.com are projected 2016 arbitration salaries for the aforementioned 11 Dodgers:
A.J. Ellis (5.151) – $4.5MM
Kenley Jansen (5.073) – $11.4MM
Justin Turner (5.045) – $5.3MM
Chris Heisey (5.042) – $2.2MM
Justin Ruggiano (4.123) – $2.8MM
Juan Nicasio (4.084) – $3.1MM
Yasmani Grandal (3.115) – $2.7MM
Luis Avilan (3.077) – $1.1MM
Joe Wieland (3.027) – $508K
Scott Van Slyke (2.151) – $1.2MM
Chris Hatcher (2.146) – $900K
Last year the Dodgers avoided arbitration with all of their players who were eligible — Ellis, Heisey, Jansen, Nicasio and Turner.
Jansen led the group in terms of 2015 salary by agreeing to $7.4 million. He was followed by Ellis ($4.25 million), Turner ($2.5 million), Nicasio ($2.3 million) and Heisey ($2.16 million).
The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is Wednesday, Dec. 2. The deadline to file for arbitration is Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, with each side then submitting one salary figure on Friday, Jan. 15.
Sides are permitted to continue negotiating even after filing for arbitration and exchanging figures. During his days in the Tampa Bay Rays front office, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman didn’t negotiate after the filing date, instead letting the matter play out in a hearing.
Arbitration hearings will be held between Feb. 1-20, 2016 in front of a three-person panel. The Dodgers’ last hearing was in 2007 with reliever Joe Beimel.
