Daily Archives: January 17, 2012

James Loney Avoids the Most Depressing Arbitration Case in History

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Earlier today on Twitter, I joked that if the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw couldn’t come to some sort of an agreement before reaching the arbitration table, I’d love to have the chance to sit in on that hearing. What could the Dodgers possibly say to argue Kershaw’s case? “Uh, if he was so good, how come Juan Uribe was so bad?” What I didn’t say at the time was that the inverse of that situation – James Loney‘s arbitration hearing – would have been equally as hilarious, just in a completely different way. Can you imagine Loney’s representatives trying to come up with ways to bolster his case, particularly since his usual crutch of “RBI guy” didn’t even really happen in 2011?

Unfortunately for purveyors of high comedy, we won’t get a chance to envision that, since Loney has avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $6.375m. If that sounds like a lot for a player of Loney’s talents, well, just remember that the arbitration process isn’t exactly the free market. And if he’s anything like the Loney we saw over the last two months of 2011, he’ll actually be underpaid. (When he’s not that Loney, of course, feel free to commence moaning.)

Updating the numbers from earlier today, the Dodgers now have about $79m committed to 16 players under contract for 2012, plus the approximately $5m or so that will be spent on minimum salary pre-arbitration types like Dee Gordon, Kenley Jansen, and A.J. Ellis. The only outstanding arbitration case, Kershaw, still looms…

Dodgers Avoid Arbitration With Andre Ethier

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We can strike one potentially contentious arbitration hearing from the schedule, at least according to Andre Ethier’s agents:

#Dodgers arbitration-eligible All-Star OF Andre Ethier agrees to 1-year contract for $10.95M + PBs.

I’m pleasantly surprised by that, actually. Ethier made $9.25m last year on the back end of a two-year, $15.25m contract signed before 2010, and despite most of us knowing he had a relatively disappointing and injury-prone season, a 30-game hitting streak, All-Star appearance, and Gold Glove usually go a long way in contract negotiations. I had pegged $12m as Ethier’s likely salary through arbitration, and Eric Stephen had guessed $13m was probable, so coming in at just under $11m (plus likely incentives, which we’re not aware of yet) seems like a pretty good deal on the club’s part.

With Ethier settled, the Dodgers now have $72.60m committed to 15 players under contract for 2012. That doesn’t include the approximately $5m or so that will be spent on minimum salary pre-arbitration types, the approximately $23m spent on deferrals and buyouts, or the club’s two remaining arbitration cases, Clayton Kershaw and James Loney, who will likely add $15-18m between them.