LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers have nine unsigned players eligible for salary arbitration as Friday's deadline (5 p.m. PT) to tender contracts approaches.
This year's arbitration-eligible players and their 2017 salaries: Yasmani Grandal, $5.5 million; Alex Wood, $2.8 million; Luis Avilan, $1.5 million; Josh Fields, $1.05 million; Tony Cingrani, $618,306; Enrique Hernandez, $555,000; Yimi Garcia, $550,000; Pedro Baez, $550,000; Joc Pederson, $502,442.
Arbitration-eligible players who are tendered contracts can continue to negotiate with the club. If no settlement is reached, their salaries will be determined through the arbitration process. Non-tendered players become unrestricted free agents.
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Grandal, who lost the starting catcher job to Austin Barnes late this season, is an intriguing candidate to be traded or non-tendered. If management is convinced Barnes has supplanted Grandal long term, a salary of $7 million or more for a backup catcher would be extreme. That's why rumors surfaced this week that the club is willing to trade Grandal, who will be a free agent after the 2018 season.
The Dodgers have five relief pitchers eligible for arbitration: Avilan, Baez, Cingrani, Fields and Garcia. None are projected to close or set up, but all except Garcia are in line for raises. Avilan, Cingrani and Fields have more than four years of service time each, putting their likely salaries above $2 million.
Garcia is coming off Tommy John surgery, making him likely to agree to an incentive contract or be non-tendered. Avilan and Baez were left off the World Series roster, while Fields has had two solid years pitching out of Los Angeles' bullpen. Cingrani pitched well after his Trade Deadline acquisition from Cincinnati.
Outfielders Pederson and Hernandez are eligible for arbitration for the first time. Pederson is coming off a generally disappointing season that included a Triple-A demotion but ended with a three-homer World Series. The versatile Hernandez gained notoriety for his three-homer game in the Dodgers' pennant-clinching win over the Cubs.
Last offseason, the Dodgers non-tendered reliever Louis Coleman after an ineffective second half, making him a free agent. The Dodgers have joined most clubs in leveraging the non-tender to extract a more favorable contract from a player on the bubble. At last year's deadline, they reached such agreements with Scott Van Slyke and Chris Hatcher.