When the sun came up on Monday morning, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman had 12 arbitration-eligible players he needed to deal with before the 5 p.m. PT MLB arbitration deadline. When the sun finally set shortly after that deadline passed, he had.

Of those dozen, two had signed guaranteed one-year contracts, nine had been tendered contracts, thereby agreeing to give them a contract for the 2020 season, and one had not been tendered a contract, thus ending his time with the team and sending him into the deep abyss known as free agency.

The two lucky ones (so to speak) were 30-year-old Dodgers left-hander Scott Alexander and soon-to-be (on December 28) 30-year-old Dodgers back-up catcher Austin Barnes. The so to speak part comes from the fact that they basically had to accept whatever amount Friedman offered them or they, too, would have been sent into that abyss. Alexander agreed to a one-year contract at $875,000 and Barnes a one-year contract at $1.1 million.

The somewhat unexpected part of both contracts is that they are guaranteed, meaning that even in the unlikely event that neither appears in even one game during the entire 2020 season, they still get paid in full. And while one can certainly argue that both might have done better on the free-agent market, they also might not have; and guaranteed money in the bank is guaranteed money in the bank no matter how you slice it.

As for the nine Dodgers who were tendered contracts on Monday, there were no surprises at all. They were: Pedro Baez, Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez, Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Ross Stripling, Chris Taylor, and Julio Urias.

The thing to keep in mind with these nine is that any of them – or even all of them – could still be traded by Friedman and, in all likelihood, there is an exceptionally good chance that at least one (or more) of them probably will be.

And then there was one.

Again as a surprise to absolutely no one, 29-year-old right-hander Yimi Garcia was not tendered a contract and sent into the free agency abyss.

As every Dodger fan on the planet knows, Garcia’s five seasons in Dodger Blue were often tenuous and occasionally disastrous. In fact, during the 2019 season, the Moca, Dominican Republic native posted a 1-4 record with a 3.61 ERA.

That’s the good news.

The bad news and for what he will undoubtedly most be remembered were the 15 home runs he allowed in 2019 in only 62.1 innings pitched. This averages out to be one home run allowed for every 4.2 innings pitched. By comparison, fellow Dodgers relievers Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen averaged one home run allowed every 11.2 and 7.0 innings pitched respectively.

Although there are some, many in fact, who have been and continue to be critical of Friedman for slow-playing the Hot Stove season thus far, when you look closely at the names on that list of 12 (Yimi Garcia notwithstanding), it was a pretty good day at the office for the Dodger executive, wouldn’t you say?

Play Ball!

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