The Dodgers have officially struck a deal with free agent righty Brandon Beachy, as first reported by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The ICON Sports Management client will receive a $1.5MM guarantee, per the report, and can reach $4.25MM through incentives.
Beachy, 29, reached the majors only briefly last year with Los Angeles as he worked back from consecutive Tommy John surgeries. In his 48 2/3 Triple-A frames, which included ten starts, Beachy worked to a 3.51 ERA with 6.8 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9.
Before that, of course, Beachy had looked like a solid young rotation piece with the Braves. Over the 2010 through 2013 campaigns, he worked to a 3.23 ERA with 9.2 K.9 against 2.9 BB/9 across 267 2/3 innings in that span.
While the Dodgers did not receive a significant major league contribution from Beachy last year, the club obviously saw enough to motivate a return. And given that he was able to achieve a major league deal despite a less-than-complete comeback, it appears that some other clubs also saw some room to expect bigger things in 2016.
Jon Heyman (Twitter links) and SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link) provided details of the incentives clause.
Dodgers really going hard on depth.
This was a guy I was hoping the Os would take a chance on. I know for LA he is depth but it seems like overkill at this point.
no such thing, we got 2 guys coming off tommy john and a couple of other guys with alot injury history you can never have too much depth
One starter for every high priced executive in the front office!
Meanwhile, the Giants are going to throw a cooked Matt Cain and Jake Peavy out there for 30% of their starts.
Yeah, Bumgarner and Shark and pray for Cain. It looks like it’s the D-Backs’ year to me.
Way to many starters right now.
I think he can help if healthy. For 1.5mil, he is worth the risk.
The real cost isn’t the salary, it’s the roster spot. The Dodgers had to DFA one of their recent trade acquisitions to make room for Beachy.
no they Designated Olsen
Strike out the word trade if you like then. Olson was acquired from Seattle in December for cash or a PTBNL
i was wondering how we got him lol
Dodgers really look like they are going for quantity over quality.
You can never have enough pitching. These low risk high incentive deals are club friendly now that every high profile FA wants opt outs now. You need to protect yourself with these guys now that the control has shifted in their favor.
Depth’s important. NEXT MAN UP!
Injuries have hurt his career, but only 29 and only 1.5mil. He is worth that risk
Are the Dodgers stocking up for a big trade push? I am unsure why a team would continue to buy up starting pitchers when they are already stacked with depth. You can only have so many long relief pitchers and starters
Are they stacked with depth? Doesn’t Alex Wood still have options? He can start in AAA. Beachy as bullpen long relief to start the way the royals used Young last year. Who else?
Wood is the only starter on the roster with options I believe. Depth is really only useful if you can keep it on the active roster or in the minors. Beachy as a swingman makes sense,
I saw that there were some issues with Maeda’s elbow. They’re probably prepping for his Tommy John.
Man I already forgot about him. So they have kershaw, Kazmir, Ryu, Anderson, Maeda….McCarthy is still hurt right? Beachy is only 1.5million so if he sucks in the spring they’ll just cut him. and the rest have options.
Injuries. Anderson, McCarthy, Ryu and Beachy are all injury risks/currently injured. If Maeda’s concerns over his elbow are true, all that depth will come in handy (unless of course everyone gets injured at the same time which is unlikely).
Does Beachy have options?
Good question. Not sure if this is the right answer but I believe he wouldn’t have the service time to refuse designation if he was playing under his original contract. He was released by Atlanta and signed with the Dodgers last year as a free agent. Remembering last year after his two awful starts he accepted an assignment, which tells me he could have also gotten a release. So probably not.
Surprisingly 2 I believe
When the Dodgers designated him last season he had the option to refuse assignment and become a free agent. He accepted the assignment because declining to would have forfeited the balance of his contract. The only leverage the team retains due to his less than five years of service time this year will be the same.
Some Starters will go down with injury. Some returning starters will pitch poorly.
The depth will be tested.
As always but it’s unclear how Beachy helps much in the depth department. If he pitches well in the spring but doesn’t make the 25-man, he’s a cinch to refuse assignment. The only decent starting arm they can stash in the minors is Wood.
There’s always the bullpen where they could stash a guy or two until they’re needed.
They still also have bolsinger that was pretty good last year for them along with the kid they just got from Chicago in the Frazier trade who is a hard thrower they could either use in the bullpen or in the rotation. As a padre fan, things aren’t looking good.
It looks like the Dodgers are banking on depth over stability, huh? I guess they figure that if they sign enough high-risk, high-upside arms, the odds are that enough of them will be healthy enough to fill out a quality rotation behind Kershaw. It could work, but my (figurative only) money is currently on the Diamondbacks to win the NL West next year.