Ronald Belisario & A.J. Ellis have agreed to terms with the Dodgers, thus avoiding arbitration, report Ken Gurnick of MLB.com and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
Belisario’s contract is for one year and $1.45 million, while Ellis signed on a one-year, $2 million contract. Assuming he can stay clear of trouble, Belisario figures to be a key component in the back-end of the team’s bullpen (3.09 2012 FIP), but that assumption could be troublesome given his history. Ellis, as made obvious by the meme above, became somewhat of a folk hero in 2012, clocking in at 3.8 WAR for the year seemingly out of nowhere. He’ll be hard-pressed to duplicate that performance, but if he gets anywhere close, he’ll continue to be a bargain at an offense-starved position.
The Dodgers have now not been to arbitration since 2007 with Joe Beimel.