December 2nd, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Less than 12 hours after ThinkBlue LA indicated that the Dodgers thus-far ice-cold Hot Stove was about to heat up, it did.
Less than 12 hours after ThinkBlue LA passed along media speculation that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman probably would not offer an arbitration-avoiding contract to Dodgers left-hander Scott Alexander, he did.
So much for media speculation.
Around 8:00 p.m. PT on Sunday evening, USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale reported (via Twitter) that Friedman had indeed tendered a one-year contract to Alexander for $875,000; a full $125,000 less than the aforementioned media speculated might be offered to the so-called ‘groundball specialist.’
Although Alexander has much to prove to warrant Friedman’s confidence in him, coming in under a million dollars could prove to be among the Dodgers best arbitration-avoiding re-signings of the offseason.
Could.
The Santa Rosa, CA native and sixth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals in 2010 had an injury-plagued 2019 season that he would rather forget, first suffering inflammation in his left forearm and later nerve and thumb issues in his left arm and hand. As a result, the 6′-2″/195-pound lefty appeared in only 28 games for the Dodgers in 2019, posting a 3-2 record and 3.93 ERA in his combined 17.1 innings pitched. He did so while earning the 2019 MLB minimum salary of $575,000. It is for this reason that many believe Alexander was (very) willing to accept Friedman’s offer of less than the $1M many had speculated he might get.
Worth mentioning and the ‘give’ part of this ‘give-and-take’ deal is that Alexander’s arbitration-avoiding contract is guaranteed, which many (most) are not. It is also among the first of what is expected to be a flood of arbitration-avoiding deals across all of baseball before Monday’s 8 p.m. (ET) tender/non-tender deadline.
Whether or not Alexander lives up to his side of the deal remains to be seen. But as they say: “Hope springs eternal.”
Play Ball!
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A “flood” (Ron) or a “trickle” (Eric Stephen).
Anybody giving odds?
Let’s see here…so far in this off season, Dodgers have brought back into their system rocky Gale and for the life of me, other than minor league depth he is useless for the big club and we all can hope and pray that nothing happens to Will Smith, or their could be trouble on the horizon. Next , they sign Scott Alexander and re-sin Barnes. Does anyone here get the idea of what this off season might turn out to be?
OK, we now know Friedman is still alive. He lit the pilot light on the stove today. During what must have been a very busy day watching to see who wasn’t tendered a contract today, he took care of business with a couple below projection signings.
I’d like to think Friedman & Co has been on the phone today checking in with agents for:
Blake Treinen
Taijuan Walker
Addison Russell
Jose Peraza
Charlie Culberson
I’m sure there are others also. Anybody you potentially like?
I agree with you on Gale, he isn’t going to see the MLB club unless DISASTER strikes. Looks like we are going with versatile Barnes (I know Martin can pitch) as the backup to Smith, allowing us to be patient with the minor league potential studs. Barnes to me is Sandy Leon at 1/3 the price. Leon just got traded to Cleveland today for not much, but at 3 times the price of Barnes he brought back “something”. Barnes comes with 3 years of control.
Alexander is another low cost potential option that may fill a need.
Things are heating up.
Boxout7, I indicated yesterday that Rocky Gale as a ‘hitter’ makes Austin Barnes look like Johnny Bench or Mike Piazza!!!!!!!!!!