Dodgers News: LA Avoids Arbitration with Everyone But Tony Gonsolin
Friday was salary arbitration deadline day and in the middle of January with the MLB hot stove gone cold, it equates to a monumental news day. The Dodgers entered the day with 10 arbitration eligible players and settled with all but pitcher Tony Gonsolin.
MLB insider Jon Heyman reported the figures late on Friday night.
Now, there’s still time for the two sides to reach some sort of agreement before potentially heading to an arbitration hearing. But feeling and seeing how the Dodgers have deployed Gonsolin over his career, chances are the club might be less inclined to meet Tony closer to his number or in the middle.
Note that this is all purely speculative and my own opinion.
Gonsolin is coming off the best season of his big league career where he tossed 130.1 innings of 2.14 ERA ball. He made a career high 24 starts and won a career high 16 games while earning his first All-Star berth. Then he got injured and was ineffective in his game 3 NLDS start against the Padres.
2022 marked the second straight season where injuries cost Tony a significant stretch of games, which is something the team could, in theory, use in a case against him. The team could also cite his 9.20 career postseason ERA if it really means business.
As The Sporting News said it here, arbitration can be a messy, vicious process; teams are trying to prove the player is worth less than what he believes he’s worth, while the player is trying to earn a raise in the years leading up to free agency.
MLBTradeRumors.com projected a $3.5 million salary for Gonsolin in 2023. This would be the right-hander’s first time going through arbitration after qualifying for super two status this offseason.
Outside of Gonsolin, the Dodgers came to terms on deals with Julio Urias, Will Smith, Walker Buehler, Brusdar Graterol, Yency Almonte, Evan Phillips, Caleb Ferguson and Trayce Thompson for the 2023 season.
So, again, there’s still time for Tony and the Dodgers to work out some sort of middle ground deal or even a short, multiyear deal like we’ve seen with Buehler and Austin Barnes in the past. But don’t be shocked if this ends up making it all the way to a hearing. The last time the Dodgers went to a hearing, the team won their case over outfielder Joc Pederson but lost to pitcher Pedro Baez in 2020.
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