Dodgers avoid arbitration with All-Star ace

The Dodgers and right-hander Tony Gonsolin have signed a two-year, $6.65M contract to avoid arbitration, the team announced. The deal doesn’t affect the club’s window of team control, as he’s still controllable through the 2026 season.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports the financial breakdown for the Beverly Hills Sports Council client. Gonsolin will make $3.25M during the upcoming season, slightly north of the midpoint between his $3.4M filing figure and the team’s $3M offer. The deal contains a fairly modest $3.4M base salary for 2024 but would allow the right-hander to tack on a decent amount if he stays healthy this year. Gonsolin’s 2024 salary would escalate by $500K apiece if he makes 14, 16, 18, 20, 24 and 28 starts this season — potentially adding $3M to his ’24 salary. The contract also contains unspecified bonuses based on his finishes in Cy Young voting.

It’s a relatively inconsequential transaction in the bigger picture, but it locks in some cost certainty for the club and player over the next couple of years. Gonsolin, who’d qualified for arbitration early this winter as a Super Two player, will still have two additional seasons of arbitration eligibility covering 2025-26. The deal wraps up the Dodgers’ arbitration work for this offseason, as they’d agreed to terms with their other nine arb-eligible players before the Jan. 14 deadline for parties to exchange figures.

Gonsolin debuted in 2019 and worked as a depth starter for his first two-plus seasons. While the Saint Mary’s product was consistently effective, he didn’t crack a permanent spot in the Dodgers’ strong rotation until last year. During the 2022 campaign, Gonsolin cemented himself as one of the sport’s better pitchers. He posted a brilliant 2.14 ERA in 130 1/3 innings covering 24 starts. A .207 batting average on balls in play makes it unlikely he’ll maintain that ace-level run prevention, but the 28-year-old struck out an above-average 23.9% of opponents with a strong 7% walk rate. Even if his ERA takes a step back, he looks like a quality mid-rotation hurler.

The Dodgers’ payroll sits just under $222M, as calculated by Roster Resource. The team’s competitive-balance tax figure is a few million dollars above the $233M base threshold, with Gonsolin’s $3.325M average annual value counting against the ledger. They’re at roughly $238M in estimated CBT obligations.