December 1st, 2019 at 12:00 pm 
by Ron Cervenka (UPDATED 12-1-19 at 8:00 p.m. PT)
Although Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is known for pulling rabbits out of his hat when you least expect it, Dodger fans are beginning to get a little antsy that he has done little this offseason; this with pitchers and catchers due to report for Spring Training a mere 71 days from today.
That is about to change.
(Google images)
On Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. PT, all 30 MLB teams must either offer their arbitration-eligible players contracts or potentially lose them to free agency.
Although this sounds rather dramatic (and final), and to some extent it is, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s drop-dead time for teams or even for arbitration-eligible players.
Allow me to elaborate (courtesy of MLBTradeRumors.com):
Teams must inform arbitration-eligible players whether they will receive a (non-guaranteed) contract for the 2020 season, or else become free agents. If a player is tendered a contract, the two sides have two months to agree on a salary before arbitration hearings begin (February 3-21). However, non-tendered players immediately become free agents and can immediately sign with another team for any amount; and you can bet your very last dollar that Friedman (et al.) are watching the other 29 MLB teams very closely.
When that painful final out of Game-3 of the 2019 NLDS was recorded, these 12 Dodgers (listed alphabetically) immediately became arbitration-eligible:
- LHP Scott Alexander
- RHP Pedro Baez
- C Austin Barnes
- 1B/OF Cody Bellinger
- RHP Yimi Garcia
- IF/OF Kiké Hernandez
- IF Max Muncy
- OF Joc Pederson
- SS Corey Seager
- RHP Ross Stripling
- IF/OF Chris Taylor
- LHP Julio Urias
Of these 12, it has been speculated in the media and on social media that Friedman probably will not offer contracts to Scott Alexander and Yimi Garcia, but again, this is pure speculation.
During the 2019 season, Garcia posted a 1-4 record with a 3.61 ERA in the 64 games in which he appeared out of the Dodgers bullpen. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old Moca, Dominican Republic native also had three blown saves (two of which were after the All-Star break) in his 62.1 total innings pitched in 2019.
And then there’s 30-year-old Santa Rosa, CA native Scott Alexander, who appeared in only 28 games during the entire 2019 campaign, posting a 3-2 record and 3.93 ERA in his (wait for it…) 17.1 total innings pitched. He spent the rest of the season on the injured list with left forearm inflammation and subsequent nerve and thumb issues in his left (throwing) arm and hand. The silver lining is that the Dodgers paid Alexander the MLB minimum of $575,000 in 2019, so there’s that.
Fortunately for the 2020 Dodgers (and especially for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts), ‘The Team That Andrew Built’ already has a starting rotation that most teams would die for, consisting of (alphabetically) any combination of:
- Walker Buehler
- Tony Gonsolin
- Clayton Kershaw
- Kenta Maeda (for now)
- Ross Stripling
- Dustin May
- Julio Urias
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that their best starting pitcher in 2019, 32-year-old left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who went 14-5 on the season and won the 2019 National League ERA title (2.98), and finished second in the 2019 NL Cy Young award voting, is now a free agent and is expected to get a huge pay raise over the six-year/$36 million deal that he signed with the Dodgers in 2013. That being said, it has been speculated by many so-called baseball experts that the Dodgers are among the favorites to re-sign the extremely popular Incheon, South Korea native.
As for Maeda, it is believed by many that he is at the (very) top of the Dodgers ‘want to trade’ list; not because of his 10-8 record and 4.04 ERA this past season, but because the 31-year-old Senboku-gun, Japan native wants to be a full-time starter, whereas the Dodgers see him as (potentially) the best reliever in their oft-criticized bullpen. The sticking point and what has ticked Maeda off to the point of wanting to be traded from the seven-time consecutive National League West Division champions is that his current 8-year/$25 million contract (which runs through the 2023 season) is heavily structured on number of starts, not number of appearances. As such, many believe that this situation probably will not end well … unless, of course, the Dodgers get someone highly coveted in return.
By every indication, the Dodgers thus far ice-cold hot stove is about to heat up very soon.
Stay tuned…
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(UPDATED 12-1-19 at 8:00 p.m. PT)
At 8 p.m. PT, USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale reported (via Twitter) that the Dodger’s are, in fact, bringing back left-hander Scott Alexander for a reported $875,000, thus avoiding arbitration.
The Dodgers Hot Stove is indeed now lit.
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Posted in 
Well, I’m ready for a little Hot Stove Action.
I start by offering ALL twelve arbitration guys a contract. Both Garcia and Alexander are cheap (both projected at about $1M) and with two years of control on Garcia and three on Alexander they are both potentially valuable trade assets over the next couple months. Oh course, in Alexander’s case, I don’t know his health status, the Dodgers do.
29 yr old Garcia, in spite of a tendency to serve up meatballs at inopportune times has good stuff, appears to be finally healthy and could be valuable in the Dodgers 2020 bullpen if he just fine tunes a few things.
Next gotta have that “heart to heart” with Maeda ASAP. His future with the Dodgers is in the bullpen, restructure the contract if that is all it is, but if not, he’s on the top of the trade list. Fortunately, he’s cheap and is a valuable trade asset and should bring something good back. We owe it to Maeda to trade him if he insists he is a starter.
I don’t know why Ryu isn’t already inked at the rumored 3yrs, $54M, if that is real. Dodgers are usually respectful enough to allow their players time to explore the market before making their offer and hopefully that is all this is. We need at least one more starter, especially since Maeda really shouldn’t be on that list, to maintain our vaunted starter depth.
Let’s get the stove warmed-up with the above.
Good call, Box!
We seem to have a lot that the Angels need, catcher(Austin Barnes), pitching (Maeda, Stripling, Yimi et al),but I don’t see what they have to trade to us, draft slots or international signing money?
Good point(s). Could prove to be a very interesting day for the Dodgers.
Ron, I just wonder what most fan’s reactions may be if by the conclusion of these winter meetings in San Diego, the dodgers leave completely empty handed.
I’d like to see an article on what it would take to be rid of Pollock. In other words, what team’s albatross would we take for losing ours.