Today was the deadline for players and teams to settle in order to avoid a potential arbitration case, and the Dodgers had four remaining players who were arbitration eligible. As previously covered, the team started the offseason with nine of those players, with Brusdar Graterol, Anthony Banda, Brock Stewart, and Alex Call making it to deadline day.
Alex Vesia was also arbitration-eligible, but the Dodgers exercised his contract option after the World Series, meaning he didn’t have to worry about the arbitration process this year.
So let’s look at what happened to the quartet.
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Note: All arbitration estimates are via MLB Trade Rumors.
RHP Brusdar Graterol – Arbitration 4 – $2.8MM Projected – $2.8MM Actual
Graterol is in his final year of arbitration, having thrown just 7 1/3 innings in the last two years, which explains his relatively low salary considering his quality. Given that he was questionable to return late in 2025 from his shoulder injury, he should be healthy for 2026, and the Dodgers could use him to bolster their pen.
Bringing him back is a no-brainer decision for a player with a career 2.78 ERA/3.20 FIP/3.03 xERA over 190.2 innings, as he has back-end relief potential for a front-end relief price.
One of the most casual outs you’ll see in a World Series game 😅 pic.twitter.com/DPqhoF9oon
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 26, 2024
LHP Anthony Banda – Arbitration 2 – $1.7MM Projected – $1.625MM Actual
Another success story for the player development department of the Dodgers, Banda has been a reliable workhorse for the pen since being picked up in 2024 off the proverbial scrap heap. He’s thrown 114.2 innings over the past two years with the Dodgers, posting a 3.14 ERA but with a 4.15 FIP as he ran into dinger trouble last year, making him more of a fungible middle relief type (especially with Vesia under contract and the emergence of Jack Dreyer).
He has limited lefties to an OPS over 200 points below righties, so he’d ideally be used situationally, but the fact that he can take the ball everyday provides value for a pen who at times can lack guys who do that. For a team that values roster spots, this probably wasn’t as much of a no-brainer as it probably seemed like to many despite the low cost — and he’s probably a trade candidate at some point — but ultimately I think his reliability was a factor in the decision.
Bases loaded, no problem for Anthony Banda! pic.twitter.com/ZUmKualhMF
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) October 21, 2024
OF Alex Call – Arbitration 1 – $1.5MM Projected – $1.6MM Actual
After coming over from the Nationals at the trade deadline, Call’s .242/.341/.371/.712 line was almost identical to his career .247/.333/.384/.717 line rather than showing the improved player he had become for the previous year plus. Despite being used primarily in a platoon role, he has relatively unpronounced splits for his career and actually hit righties better than lefties with the Dodgers. But in his first playoffs, he excelled in the platoon role, as he became a rare thorn in Cristopher Sanchez‘s side during the NLDS, and ended up with a .364/.533/.364/.897 line overall (albeit in 15 PA).
Anyway, this is a pittance for a player the Dodgers are likely counting on to be a valuable fourth outfielder type at minimum, and he has another three years of team control after this, so it was a no-brainer to bring him back.
RHP Brock Stewart – Arbitration 1 – $1.4MM Projected – $1.3MM Actual
Stewart made his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 2016, and he’s headed to arbitration for the first time almost a decade later. That probably sufficiently fills you in on his injury history, and unsurprisingly he needed shoulder surgery in 2025 after throwing just 3.2 innings with the team after coming over at the trade deadline.
Still, since returning to the majors in 2023, Stewart has posted a 2.44 ERA/2.97 FIP in 81 innings, striking out a 103 batters in that time. That effectiveness is the reason he was sought after, as he has back-end pen potential when he’s healthy, and he’s on track to be that again sometime in the first half of 2026. Given the trade for him and his low salary, he was always returning as a high-risk, high-reward option for the pen on a team that can afford to take those gambles.
Brock Stewart is back with the Dodgers — and he’s not the same pitcher who left in 2019. His fastball/sweeper combo has been nasty in recent years, generating elite rates in barrel %, hard-hit %, and expected batting average this season. A sneaky good move. pic.twitter.com/j9xMSmuBS9
— ∞ The Infinite Dodger ∞ (@InfiniteDodger) July 31, 2025
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Overall, basically about what was expected (and accurate projections from MLB Trade Rumors), and it’s hard to argue with any of the moves. Honestly, the most important thing is that there’s no arbitration-hearing drama to deal with, and this all just represents another step in solidifying the roster for 2026.
