The Dodgers have agreed to terms with left-hander Scott Alexander on a one-year, $875K contract to avoid arbitration, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Alexander falls a bit shy of his $1MM projected salary.
The 30-year-old looked like a potential non-tender candidate, perhaps explaining his decision to settle for slightly less than expected. An integral part of the Los Angeles bullpen in 2018, Alexander was limited to just 28 games last season, none after June 5. Alexander suffered a season-ending forearm issue in his throwing arm, which culminated in surgery to relieve nerve irritation in September.
Alexander’s time in LA has been a bit of a mixed bag. Over the past two years, he’s given the Dodgers 83.1 innings with a 3.67 ERA and mediocre strikeout (18.9%) and walk (9.9%) rates. Alexander’s an elite ground-ball specialist, though. His 68.5% ground ball rate the past two seasons trails only Zack Britton among still-active pitchers (minimum 50 innings). The former sixth-round pick turned those worm-burners into stellar results with the 2017 Royals, spurring the Dodgers to part with fairly well-regarded pitching prospect Trevor Oaks to bring Alexander aboard.
Predictably, Alexander has been a bit better retiring lefties (.250/316/.328) than righties (.253/.325/.363) over the course of his career. The Dodgers already have Adam Kolarek on hand as a more extreme lefty specialist, although the three-batter minimum rule likely to be instituted in 2020 could adversely affect both hurlers.
Today’s news doesn’t cement Alexander’s status with the Dodgers. Arbitration salaries don’t become fully guaranteed until the start of the regular season, so LA could yet choose to part ways later on at minimal cost. Alexander will, though, at least keep his 40-man roster spot for the time being. If he sticks on the roster for the winter, he comes with two option years, giving the Dodgers some coveted flexibility.
Big mistake. Should have cut him. They will seriously regret this.
There is literally no risk. 875k is nothing to DFA if he stinks.
He’s just a troll
The risk is the spot on the 40-man he occupies not being taken by someone better.
Right now. He could still be cut in spring training where they won’t have to pay his full salary and replace him with someone better.
I don’t care how much they pay him. I didn’t mention that at all. because it has nothing to do with my point. The point is they will have to stick with him into spring training to find out what they’ve got, and the best case scenario is he continues to be mediocre. With the weakness at the back end of the bullpen baked in, and the loss of their most effective reliever already a given, mediocrity across the rest means the unit does not get better. The bullpen issues need to be addressed now, when quality trade and free agent options are far more available than they will be in March. This situation calls for a proactive approach but tendering a contract to Alexander points towards us getting more of the same.
Who is this loss of their most effective reliever of which you speak? And tenuring a contract to Alexander is not a big deal at all espically with the 3 batter rule coming in. He has a much better chance at getting right handers out than Kolarek.
I speak of Urias, easily the most effective member of the bullpen last season. He is expected to move back into the rotation next season.
You’re right that Alexander would be more effective against righties than Kolarek, but that isn’t saying much. My point is they need someone better and the shopping for someone better should start now not a week or two before opening day.
Trolling…
Amazing that the DODGERS need to SAVE $125,000 or they will go el busto…..
Great decision. Glad they kept him. They will seriously be happy they made this decision.
And we all know what happened to “fireballer” Trevor Oaks…..
Whatever happened to the Sunday night chat!!??
He can actually be a good trade piece if they decide to go that route. He’s very very cheap, and a decent lefty reliever. He will be dealt in a package trade in my opinion.
Trade piece? Package? No…he will either be a part of a bullpen that has been a huge weakness in the post season over the last few years or he will end up being signed to a minor league deal by another club after the Dodgers cut ties with him after spring training when he doesn’t snap back like they’d hoped when they gave him this deal
This.
Alexander is mediocre on a good day and they won’t know whether they have someone even that good until well into spring training. A roster slot spent on a guy like him is a roster spot they can’t fill someone better. The cost is the loss of an opportunity to improve.
They can literally remove him from the 40-man at next to no cost, if an improvement comes along. So no, it’s not a spot that they “can’t fill with someone better” – it’s quite the opposite. They can.
I see you can’t even be bothered reading nowadays. I know your cynical whinge is inevitable, but it was better when you didn’t skip straight to it.
You apparently couldn’t be bothered with reading the comment to which you were responding. It was very easy to understand. Cost wasn’t the issue I mentioned at all, was it? The point I made was he ties up a roster spot until well into spring training, the earliest time they could possibly have any idea whether Alexander will be any better than his history of medicority. I suppose you ignored that point because you don’t know how to respond to it. So you went straight for the personal attack instead, as usual.
Ugh. Okay, I’ll make it plain. You’re effectively arguing that the Dodgers will be incapable of identfying a better candidate for a roster spot, than Alexander. Which is nonsense. Again, his position on the 40 man is fluid – he’s gone at pretty much nil cost, and we’ve only just entered into upgrade season. Being on the 40 man is merely a formality – he’s a placeholder, merely to retain his rights until they see if they are capable of upgrading, at which point, he gets bumped.
The front office isn’t going to suddenly draw Alexander’s name in permanent marker on the whiteboard.
But you can’t see that through your pessimistic, glass half full outlook on everything this Team does. It literally stops you from making basic, logical reads.
No, that isn’t what I am arguing, effectively or otherwise. So the rest of what you said is null since it doesn’t respond to anything I actually said. At all. Since I can’t possibly make it any clearer, I give up. Feel better now?
The Dodgers have had better ideas than this.
In the bullpen? Not really. This is pretty much a perfect example of the kind of ideas they’ve had for years.
The computer says everything’s going to be just fine.
A veteran lefty who is decent against right handed bats for under a million? Worth a spot on the 40-man.
Perhaps using him as a trade chip along with another player(s) to make a big trade? Maybe
if listen really carefully, you can hear Big-O tire calling, come and work for us again Scott, no seriously, come back to us.