Dodgers News: Chris Hatcher, Scott Van Slyke Avoid Arbitration with 1-Year Deals
The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to one-year contracts with outfielder Scott Van Slyke and reliever Chris Hatcher.
Today, the #Dodgers agreed to one-year contracts with Scott Van Slyke and Chris Hatcher. pic.twitter.com/HWjFRWZDSO
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 1, 2016
Van Slyke only appeared in 52 games for the Dodgers in 2016 due to a pair of disabled list stints. A back issue held him out from mid-April until June and a wrist injury ended his season in August. The 30-year-old struggled to produce when he was active, as he held a .225/.292/.314 slash line in only 113 plate appearances.
His presence was surely missed against lefties. His career slash against southpaws is .262/.366/.479 and 17 of his 27 career homers have come against left handed pitching. As a team, the Dodgers slashed .213/.290/.332 against lefties, good for a league-low 72 wRC+.
Like Van Slyke, Hatcher saw his season come to an end early due to injury. An oblique strain forced him onto the DL in mid-July, and he never returned. Coming off a strong finish to his 2015 season, Hatcher struggled out of the gate this season to the tune of a 5.53 ERA/5.21 FIP in 40.2 innings. Hatcher did strand 12 of the 15 runners he inherited this season, but his spot on the roster was far from guaranteed past this season.
This is the first batch of one-year deals coming this week. The Dodgers have seven other arbitration-eligible players that must be tendered a contract before 8:59 PM Friday night in order to avoid free agency. The remaining players are: Yasmani Grandal, Alex Wood, Josh Fields, Luis Avilan and Louis Coleman along with the newly acquired Vidal Nuño and Darin Ruf.
