Dodgers agree to terms with Tony Gonsolin to avoid arbitration

The Dodgers won’t be having arbitration hearings this offseason after all.

On Tuesday, the team announced it had agreed pitcher Tony Gonsolin to a two-year deal worth $6.65 million plus significant escalators, avoiding an arbitration hearing.

Of the Dodgers’ 10 eligible players this winter, Gonsolin was the only one who couldn’t agree with the team on a 2023 salary before the mid-January deadline. Instead, Gonsolin filed $3.4 million while the Dodgers filed $3 million.

Typically, the Dodgers are a “file and trial” team, meaning they do not continue negotiations past the filing deadline while awaiting an arbitration hearing. However, they have made exceptions for multi-year contracts. And this year, Gonsolin became the latest example.

Gonsolin broke through in 2022 and won his first All-Star selection when he went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA, easily the best season of his four-year career.

He helped anchor the rotation while Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler struggled with injuries. He spent much of the summer near the top of the Major League ERA leaderboard. And he appeared poised to play a key role in the team’s postseason plans.

But the right-hander suffered a forearm strain in late August that limited him to just one more regular season start and handicapped him during a brief outing in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

However, when they went through the arbitration process – Gonsolin’s first after qualifying as a “Super Two” player and giving him four years’ eligibility to arbitrate instead of the usual three – the pitcher and team weren’t far apart and eventually settled the middle for a salary of $3.25 million in 2023, according to those with knowledge of the situation who are not authorized to speak publicly.

In 2024, Gonsolin’s base salary will be $3.4 million but includes escalators based on the number of starts he makes in 2023, which could push his total earnings to more than $6 million, according to one person who knows the situation.

The Dodgers struck a similar deal with Buehler in 2021 after he also reached arbitration a year early as a Super Two player.

With Buehler likely to miss 2023 while recovering from Tommy John’s surgery, the Dodgers are counting on Gonsolin to fill the void.

After Tuesday, they also now know how much they will owe him for the next few seasons.