The upcoming non-tender deadline marks teams’ last chance to do a little bit of roster-clearing with no strings attached.
Teams can choose not to extend a contract to any arbitration-eligible player, which will immediately send that player into free agency.
Some non-tenders are unexpected and rather brutal; last year, the Brewers unceremoniously dumped Brandon Woodruff soon after news came out that he would miss the entirety of the 2024 season after a shoulder surgery.
The Dodgers also infamously dumped Cody Bellinger in 2022.
The Dodgers have 37 men on the 40-man roster, and it’s likely that one of those spots will be filled by shortstop prospect Austin Gauthier to protect him from the upcoming Rule 5 draft.
Following that expected move, they’ll need to do a little bit more cleaning if they’re going to try to re-sign Teoscar Hernández and/or re-sign Walker Buehler and/or fill out the rotation with one or two more arms, so a non-tender might be the solution to make some room.
When is MLB’s non-tender deadline? Everything fans need to know
The non-tender deadline is Friday, Nov. 22 at 3 PM PST, and the Dodgers have a few candidates who could get the shove.
They have eight arbitration-eligible players, almost all of whom are pitchers — Tony Gonsolin, Michael Kopech, Dustin May, Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda, and Gavin Lux as the lone position player.
If the Dodgers were to cut anyone, our money would be on May and Banda. May has never gotten the chance to fully realize his potential in the majors; he’s never pitched over 56 innings in a single season due to repeated injuries.
This year, it looked like he might even be able to pull off a very late-season return from a flexor tendon surgery and a Tommy John revision he received in July 2023, but then he tore his esophagus in an incident unrelated to baseball.
He made just $2.135 million in arbitration for 2024 and would likely receive the exact same amount in arbitration this year, but the Dodgers might find that he’s an easy cut to make after being unable to perform for the last six seasons.
Banda did (unexpectedly) good work for the Dodgers after he came over in a trade from the Guardians, but he’s out of minor league options and LA might be looking to upgrade.
The Dodgers also might not cut anyone, but with a roster that’s already stacked and still looking for additions, they’re going to need to trim some fat one way or the other.
