The Dodgers and pitcher Dustin May avoided arbitration Friday by agreeing to a one-year, $2.135 million contract for the 2025 season, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
The deal came ahead of MLB’s Friday night deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players for next year.
May, 27, has a 3.10 ERA in 46 career MLB appearances, but has yet to fulfill his promise as a former top prospect because of numerous struggles with injuries in recent seasons, making just 20 starts since the beginning of the 2021 campaign.
May had Tommy John surgery five starts into his 2021 season, scuttling his impressive start to that campaign. After returning from that procedure near the end of 2022, May’s 2023 season was cut short by another elbow surgery, this time to repair his flexor tendon. Then, after initially hoping to return to action at some point this past season, May required surgery for a torn esophagus in July after feeling a pain in his throat and stomach at dinner, sidelining him for the remainder of the year.
Despite all that, the Dodgers still envision May as a potential impact player in 2025 — which will be his final season under team control before free agency.
The right-hander is expected to be ready for opening day. The Dodgers are hopeful that, even after two significant elbow surgeries, he will still possess much of his old, wicked stuff. And for a team that remains in need of starting pitching reinforcements this winter, May should at the very least be an option to provide depth and innings, as long as he doesn’t suffer further physical setbacks.
With May’s contract settled, the Dodgers have seven other players still eligible for arbitration: Evan Phillips (who is estimated to receive $6.2 million in arbitration, per MLB Trade Rumors), Tony Gonsolin ($5.4 million), Michael Kopech ($5.2 million), Brusdar Graterol ($2.7 million), Gavin Lux ($2.7 million), Alex Vesia ($1.9 million) and Anthony Banda ($1.1 million).
Another arbitration-eligible player, reliever Connor Brogdon, was outrighted to triple-A Oklahoma City last week.
