The Los Angeles Dodgers and free agent closer Kirby Yates are in active negotiations, according to a report from the Athletic yesterday. Bob Nightengale has been pronouncing it as a done deal since yesterday, but Bob isn’t always the most reliable in regards to information, and the heavy hitters have, from what I have seen, not said that there is a deal yet.
I will note that this makes doing a headline for this post difficult. I tried a couple of different ways and then ended up just putting it all in there and having it be a long and awkward headline.
Yates, who turns 38 in March, got a one year, $4.5 million deal from the Rangers for 2024. That deal ended up being a home run for the Rangers, as Yates put up a 1.17 ERA in 61.2 innings over 61 appearances, was named to the All Star team, and finished 8th in the Cy Young balloting.
The Rangers had bringing Yates back as a priority, but with the team trying to stay under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold, and with basically no reliable relievers under team control and healthy to start the 2025 season, Chris Young opted to go big in salary for Nathan Eovaldi and Joc Pederson, while going the quantity over quality route with the bullpen.
No word yet on what the financial terms are yet, but I would suspect it will be more in terms of AAV than what the Rangers have spent on every reliever they have added so far this offseason. One would expect a one or two year deal for Yates, though it is possible the Dodgers opt to go longer on the term in order to lower then AAV and try to reduce the luxury tax hit.
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