Dodgers avoid arbitration with catcher Ellis

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers and catcher A.J. Ellis avoided arbitration by agreeing to a 2014 contract for $3.55 million plus incentives on Saturday.

The agreement leaves closer Kenley Jansen as the only remaining Dodgers player eligible for arbitration. Jansen seeks $5.05 million and was offered $3.5 million by the club after receiving $512,000 last year.

Ellis sought $4.6 million and was offered $3 million by the club after receiving $2 million last year, his second full season as the starting catcher.

Ellis drove in 52 runs for the second consecutive season and quarterbacked one of the best pitching staffs in MLB.

If Jansen doesn't reach an agreement, a hearing will be held and an arbitration panel will select one figure or the other as the player's 2014 salary.

Since the inception of salary arbitration 38 years ago, the Dodgers are 14-6 in cases decided by a hearing and 6-1 in their last seven cases, dating to 1991. That includes the most recent "wins" over Joe Beimel in 2007 and Eric Gagne in 2004.

The last player to prevail in a hearing against the Dodgers was Terry Adams in 2001. The club's first arbitration case was in 1975, when Ron Cey was awarded a salary of $56,000 instead of the club's submission of $47,000.