Dodgers decline options on Casey Blake and Jon Garland
The Dodgers on Tuesday declined club options for next season on third baseman Casey Blake and pitcher Jon Garland.
The moves were expected. Blake’s season ended with a neck operation and Garland’s with shoulder surgery. Blake’s option was for $6 million and Garland’s for $8 million. The Dodgers will pay Blake a $1.25-million buyout and Garland $500,000.
Both players will become free agents five days after the end of the World Series.
The Dodgers also removed record-breaking utility man Eugenio Velez from their 40-man roster and demoted him to triple-A Albuquerque. Velez set major league records for most at-bats (37) in a hitless season for a non-pitcher and most consecutive hitless at-bats (46, dating to last season).
Acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Indians for power-hitting catcher Carlos Santana, Blake was a key member of Dodgers teams that reached the National League Championship Series in 2008 and 2009. In 31/2 seasons with Dodgers, he hit .260 with 49 home runs and 192 runs batted in.
Injuries limited Blake to 63 games in 2011, the last guaranteed season in his three-year, $17.5-million contract. He underwent surgery on his arthritic neck in early September.
Blake, 38, is determined to play next season. Manager Don Mattingly said the Dodgers are considering re-signing him as a utility man and called him “a valuable guy.”
Garland, a graduate of Granada Hills Kennedy High, made only nine starts this season because of shoulder problems. He was 1-5 with a 4.33 earned-run average. Garland also pitched for the Dodgers in 2009.
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