4:50pm: Butera's deal includes $100K in attainable performance bonuses, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Likewise, Elbert can earn up to $100k in incentive pay, Heyman further tweets.
4:01pm: The Dodgers' deals with Elbert, Butera, and Mike Baxter are all non-guaranteed, Hernandez tweets.
3:49pm: The Dodgers have avoided arbitration with Scott Elbert and Drew Butera, according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter). Elbert gets a one-year, $575K deal while Butera will earn $700K (link).
Our own Matt Swartz projected that Elbert would earn $600K through arbitration while Butera would get $700K. Elbert, 28, underwent Tommy John surgery in June and was considered a non-tender candidate, but it would appear that the Dodgers are confident that he will bounce back strong in 2014. The lefty reliever posted a 2.20 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 2012.
Butera, 30, saw just six big league games in total last season for the Twins and Dodgers. The catcher came to Los Angeles in a July 31st deal for a player to be named later. In 43 Triple-A games last year, Butera hit just .187/.228 /.281.
The Dodgers have now avoided arbitration with three of their players today after signing Elbert, Butera, and Mike Baxter earlier today. There are four remaining arbitration eligible Dodgers – Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, A.J. Ellis, and Ronald Belisario.
