Dodgers: Joc Pederson’s Next 12 Months Should Be Interesting
The year 2020 will be interesting for Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson. I am taking a break from the cheating scandals and the Hall of Fame voting results to talk about the upcoming season.
The 2020 calendar year started with Pederson and the Dodgers being $1.75M apart in arbitration numbers. For the last several off-seasons he has been subject to trade rumors and this off-season has not been any different. However, it looks like Joc will be in the Dodgers lineup against right-handed pitching starting the 2020 season.
The big question becomes whether the Dodgers just hold on to Pederson for one more season or do they consider a multi-year contract for him.
Should the Dodgers sign Joc Pederson to a multi-year contract this off-season or let him go into free agency next off-season?
— Tim Rogers 2080 ??subscriber: (@TimRogers2080) January 19, 2020
It is amazing that over 2,400 fans were split 50/50. This article will take a look at the career of Pederson so far and look at what a fair multi-year contract might look like.
The 2019 Season
All in all, it seems 2019 was Pederson’s best season in the Major Leagues. Last September I wrote about some key improvements he made. Pederson is a very streaky hitter and 2019 was no different. Some statistical highlights:
- Career highs in hits, runs, RBI and batting average
- 36 home runs – career high
- .558 slugging – career high
- .876 OPS – career high
- 127 OPS+ – career high
- Career highs in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and Ultimate Zone Rating/150 (UZR/150)
With a bWAR (Baseball Reference wins above replacement) of 3.3 and a fWAR (FanGraphs model) of 3.0, Pederson was quite a bargain at $5M in 2019. Some value a WAR point of anywhere from $7-10M so Joc was worth anywhere from $21M to $30M in value. His arbitration salary demand of $9.5M does not seem unreasonable.
[adace-ad id=”118954″]Figuring Out What Joc Should Be Paid
Below is a table of outfielders sorted by wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus) of players with a similar wRC+ to Joc Pederson. The 2020 salary for each player is also included. If Pederson actually does reach arbitration I can see Joc willing his $9.5M request.