When Dodger fans woke up Tuesday morning, their beloved team had seven arbitration-eligible players facing Tuesday night’s 9 p.m. tender / non-tender deadline – pitchers Kenley Jansen and Juan Nicasio, infielders Dee Gordon, Justin Turner and Darwin Barney, and catchers A.J. Ellis and Drew Butera. By noon that number had grown to eight after that Dodgers traded right-handed pitcher Matt Magill to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Chris Heisey, who himself was arbitration-eligible and coming off a one-year / $1.76 million contract with the Reds.

The Dodgers acquired right-handed hitting utility outfielder Chris Heisey from the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. (Photo credit – Gene J. Puskar)

The 9 p.m. deadline came and went without so much as a word from the Dodgers, causing Twitter to buzz with chatter among anxious journalists, beat writers and bloggers. Although most expected the Dodgers to tender contracts to Jansen, Gordon, Turner, Nicasio and newcomer Heisey, there was an uncomfortable air of uncertainty about Barney, Butera and most of all A.J. Ellis – whose offensive and defensive numbers were down significantly in 2014 but who everyone wanted back next season because of his tremendous team leadership, not to mention his extremely close friendship with 2014 NL MVP and Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw had, on a number of occasions, been rather outspoken with reporters about wanting Ellis back next season.

But alas word final came, and it came as almost a tease to those who had been anxiously waiting. It came in the form of two seemingly nonchalant tweets from the Dodgers official Twitter account:

Dodger fans, journalists, beat writers and bloggers waited all day for these two simple tweets.

That’s it. As simple as that the Dodgers had tendered contracts to all eight of their arbitration-eligible players. Done deal.

A short while later L.A. Times Dodgers beat reporter Dylan Hernandez tweeted that Barney had been given a one-year / $2.525 million contract – a raise of $225,000 over his one-year / $2.3 million contract with the Cubs prior to being traded to the Dodgers on July 28.

In his short time with the Dodgers this past season Darwin Barney had a knack for getting on base. In 45 plate appearances he went 10 for 33 (.303) with a .467 on-base percentage.
(Photo credit – Richard Mackson)

Although arbitration figures for the other seven aren’t due until January 16, 2015, there’s a pretty good chance that a few of those remaining seven tendered contracts will be signed before then, and an even better chance that all of them will be signed prior to the January 31 deadline. If not, arbitration hearings will be held between February 1 – 21, 2015.

The Magill – Heisey trade caught most Dodger fans by surprise because it added yet another outfielder to an already overcrowded outfield. Heisey is coming off a rather lackluster season in which he appeared in 119 games compiling a triple-slash of .222 / .265 / .378 for an OPS of .643. He did hit eight home runs including four of which were off the bench. (The Dodgers hit only one pinch-hit home run all season). Most see Heisey as a utility outfielder and outfield depth in the event of an injury. This does, of course, put Scott Van Slyke’s future with the Dodgers in jeopardy, with many believing that the ever-popular 28-year-old Chesterfield, Missouri native will be traded this winter.

Magill spent the entire 2014 season at Triple-A Albuquerque where he compiled a 7-6 record with a 5.21 ERA. He struck out 70 while walking 59 for an unattractive K/BB ratio of 1.19 in 84.2 innings pitched. Although the extremely likable 25-year-old Southern California native made six spot starts for the Dodgers in 2013, he went 0-2 with an inflated 6.51 ERA. In spite of spending all of 2014 on the Dodgers 40-man roster, Magill never got the call back up to The Show. It is believed that he will be used primarily as a reliever in the Reds organization and although he will be sorely missed by his Dodger teammates and fans, he stands a much better chance of making it back to the Bigs with the Reds than he would have with the Dodgers.

Simi Valley’s Matt Magill was quite popular among Dodger fans, whom he often interacted with on Twitter. He will definitely be missed. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With the annual Winter Meetings set to begin next week in San Diego, it’s safe to say that Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi are nowhere near finished wheeling and dealing this off-season. In fact, there are strong rumors floating around that the Dodgers are nearing a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies to acquire much-coveted 30-year-old right-hander Cole Hamels with the names Joc Pederson and Zach Lee (among others) being tossed about in exchange.

Now that would be a blockbuster trade.

Stay tuned…