The Dodgers’ arbitration picture for 2027 is already taking shape, even if the usual offseason clock may not be running on time.
Under a normal collective bargaining setup, the salary exchange date would land in early January - Friday, January 8, or maybe Thursday, January 7, since MLB has pushed it up a day in recent years. That date has become a soft line in the sand for deals.
The Dodgers, for example, had all four of their arbitration-eligible players signed by January 8, 2026. And over Andrew Friedman’s first 12 offseasons running baseball operations, the club has reached agreements with 83 of 91 arbitration-eligible players by the exchange date, a rate of 92 percent.
This winter figures to be different. MLB owners are set to lock out the players once the current CBA expires at 8:59 p.m.
PT on December 1, which makes a January exchange date feel far less certain. Arbitration will still get done eventually, but the timing could get messy.
That’s not uncharted territory. In 2022, the CBA was finalized on March 10, spring training was shortened, and opening day got pushed back a week.
The arbitration exchange date moved to March 22, right in the middle of camp. The Dodgers reached deals with all three of their players involved that year: Trea Turner at $21 million, Julio Urías at $8 million, and Caleb Ferguson at $762,500 while he was coming back from Tommy John surgery.
When salaries are exchanged late like that, hearings can spill into the season. The player gets paid the team’s filed figure to begin the year, and if the player wins the hearing, the difference comes back as back pay.
Aaron Judge’s 2022 case is a good example: he filed at $21 million, the Yankees filed at $17 million, and the two sides settled on June 24 for $19 million before a hearing could happen. Judge also had a $250,000 bonus tied to an American League MVP win, and he collected that in November.
That’s the framework for the Dodgers’ six arbitration-eligible players this winter. For now, the projections come from three places: MLB Trade Rumors, Jeff Euston of Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and Zach Cioffi at Just Baseball.
Brock Stewart, Jake Cousins, Alex Call, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, and Andy Pages are the six names in the mix. Stewart is projected by MLBTR at $1.3 million, Cot’s at $1.8 million, and Just Baseball at $1.5 million.
Cousins lands around the minimum end of the group, with projections of $1 million from MLBTR and Cot’s and $950,000 from Just Baseball. Call comes in at $1.9 million, $2.1 million, and $2 million across the three outlets.
Sheehan’s range is wider: $2.1 million from MLBTR, $2.425 million from Cot’s, and $1.85 million from Just Baseball. Stone is projected at $1.2 million, $1.01 million, and $850,000.
Pages is the big number, with projections of $4.9 million from MLBTR, $5.6 million from Cot’s, and $3.7 million from Just Baseball.
There’s still plenty of time for the picture to change before January, whether through trades or the November 20 tender deadline.
Cousins still has an option year left, but he hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 2025 Tommy John surgery. Stewart is out of options and carries a long injury history, having missed 95 of 162 regular season games last year across three different injured list stints, though he was effective when healthy.
“I’ve been hurt a lot so I always try to take things one day at a time,” Stewart told True Blue LA in September.
Pages is the most notable first-timer in the group because he qualifies as a Super Two player, putting him among the top 22 percent in service time among players with at least two but fewer than three years of major league service. He’s coming off an All-Star season and finished among the top three in National League Gold Glove voting in center field, which is why his arbitration number is expected to jump into real-money territory.
The Dodgers could also be looking beyond 2027 with Pages, since he has four arbitration-eligible years ahead of him. For now, though, the early comparisons are useful.
Recent Super Two players at roughly his level include Jarren Duran in 2025, Maikel Garcia, Zach Neto, and Brice Turang in 2026. Duran was projected at $4.9 million by MLBTR and $4.25 million by Cot’s, and he signed a one-year deal with an option.
Garcia was projected at $4.8 million and $4.85 million and instead agreed to a five-year, $57 million contract. Neto’s projections were $4.1 million and $4.25 million, while Turang came in at $4.4 million and $4.75 million.
Pages’ own projections sit at $4.9 million from MLBTR and $5.6 million from Cot’s, with his contract still to be determined.
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