Dodgers avoid arbitration with Julio Urías, Walker Buehler and Will Smith
The Dodgers agreed to terms Friday with nine of their 10 arbitration-eligible players on contracts for the 2023 season, ensuring they will avoid arbitration hearings with Julio Urías, Walker Buehler, Will Smith and several other key players on next season’s team.
The only remaining arbitration-eligible player who was still unsigned late Friday night was Tony Gonsolin, leaving him as the lone member of the club who could be headed for a hearing to determine his 2023 salary.
According to people with knowledge of the situation who were unauthorized to speak publicly, Urías netted $14.25 million, the biggest salary for next season among the club’s arbitration-eligible players.
Trevor Bauer is officially no longer a Dodger, but don’t expect management to own up to its mistakes involving the controversial pitcher.
Urías, a Cy Young Award finalist last season who figures to anchor the Dodgers’ rotation in 2023, is entering his final season of arbitration before becoming a free agent next winter.
Buehler settled with the team at $8.025 million for next season, people with knowledge of the situation said, though the right-hander will likely miss most if not all of the campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Smith settled at $5.25 million, the highest among the club’s crop of first-year arbitration-eligible players, according to sources.
Dustin May ($1.675 million), Trayce Thompson ($1.45 million), Evan Phillips ($1.3 million), Yency Almonte ($1.5 million), Brusdar Graterol ($1.225 million) and Caleb Ferguson ($1.1 million) also came to agreements Friday before Major League Baseball’s deadline for teams and players to exchange arbitration figures for a potential hearing.
That left Gonsolin as the team’s only arbitration-eligible player to be addressed.
Without a deal in place by Friday’s deadline, players and clubs instead exchange 2023 salary figures for a potential arbitration hearing that would likely take place sometime in February.
In Gonsolin’s case, the pitcher and team could still try to work out a resolution before a hearing — a stage the Dodgers haven’t reached in arbitration since before the 2020 season.
Like many other franchises, however, the Dodgers have developed a reputation as a “file and trial” team under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, meaning they rarely continue to negotiate one-year arbitration salaries after the exchange deadline.
The Dodgers were unable to trade Trevor Bauer by Thursday’s deadline and he was released. He will find a hostile market in search for a new team.
Before 2020, they hadn’t had an arbitration hearing since 2007.
If Gonsolin and the Dodgers do reach an arbitration hearing, a panel of arbitrators will select the Dodgers’ proposed figure or Gonsolin’s proposed figure — and nothing in between — to determine the right-hander’s 2023 salary.
Gonsolin, who earned his first career All-Star selection last season, reportedly filed at $3.4 million, while the Dodgers filed at $3 million.
Of the nine other deals the Dodgers did reach Friday, none strayed too far from industry projections, such as the ones compiled by MLB Trade Rumors. That site predicted the Dodgers’ total outlay for those nine players would be $34.8 million, which was only about a million off the actual amount of $35.775 million.
The team’s payroll picture should be clearer after Friday as well. With the new deals (and Gonsolin’s $3.5 million salary estimate), the Dodgers luxury tax payroll is believed to be above $240 million, inching even further beyond the league’s $233 million luxury tax threshold.
Angels sign five
The Angels agreed to terms with five of their eight arbitration-eligible players, with pitcher Patrick Sandoval and outfielder Taylor Ward signing for $2.75million; first baseman Jared Walsh signing for $2.65million; pitcher Jaime Barría signing for $1.05million; and pitcher Griffin Canning, who missed all of 2022 because of injury, signing for $850,000.
But the team was unable to reach agreements with new right fielder Hunter Renfroe, who was acquired in a trade from the Milwaukee Brewers and is projected to make $11.2million; new utility infielder Gio Urshela, who was acquired in a deal from the Minnesota Twins and is projected to make $9.2million; and infielder Luis Rengifo, who is projected to make $2.4million.
Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.
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