Dodgers Sign Starting Pitcher to $2 Million Contract for 2025 Season

The Dodgers have avoided arbitration with this deal.

Oct 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman speaks in a press conference before game one against the New York Yankees in the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed starting pitcher Dustin May to a one-year, $2.135 million contract to avoid arbitration.

Ahead of the 2023 season, he signed with the Dodgers on a $1.675 million contract in his first year of arbitration.

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May has been restricted because of injuries over the last four seasons. After making his MLB debut in 2019, May became a regular starter for the Dodgers in 2020. He pitched in 12 games with 10 starts during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, going 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA and 44 strikeouts. May appeared in seven games during the postseason that year, going 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA over 10.2 innings as he helped the Dodgers win the World Series.

Since that World Series, May has dealt with injury after injury. In 2021, May tore his UCL in early May and underwent Tommy John surgery. May returned from that surgery in August 2022, but was placed on the injured list with back tightness in September, prior to the postseason.

May suffered another significant elbow injury during the 2023 season, and was forced to undergo Tommy John revision surgery. The Dodgers hoped he could return for the second half of the 2024 season, but he had surgery again in July, this time for an esophageal tear.

Through this period, May pitched in games in 2021-23, but he missed the entire season for the first time in 2024. While he has been oft-injured and has not pitched in 10 games since the 2020 season, May has tremendous upside when healthy.

Over 46 games and 34 starts, May is 12-9 with a 3.10 ERA and 174 strikeouts. When he last pitched in 2023, May went 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 34 strikeouts. He offers great promise for the Dodgers rotation, but he is also an example of what has been their biggest weakness as of late — injuries.

The Dodgers have assembled multiple rotations with exceptional talent over the last few seasons, but they cannot get past the injury bug. Even in 2024, the Dodgers had just three starting pitchers during the postseason because so many of their starters had gotten injured. The Dodgers overcame a limited rotation to win the World Series, but it was certainly not the ideal way for them to do it.