The Dodgers and super-utility man Tommy Edman have agreed to a five-year $74MM extension that runs from 2025 to 2029 and contains a club option for the 2030 season, the team has announced. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first with the agreement. Passan adds that Edman’s contract includes a $17MM signing bonus, and that some of the money in the deal is deferred. The club was reportedly in the midst of “preliminary” discussions regarding an extension with Edman’s camp last week, and those talks have now come to fruition.
Edman, 29, was acquired by the Dodgers from the Cardinals alongside White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech in a three-team, eight-player trade that also sent Tommy Pham and Erick Fedde to the Cardinals and Miguel Vargas to the White Sox just prior to this summer’s trade deadline. At the time of the deal, Edman hadn’t appeared in a big league game following setbacks related to wrist surgery he underwent during the 2023 offseason. While he ultimately didn’t make his Dodgers debut until August 19, the switch-hitter made an immediate impression with the club as he seamlessly shifted between center field and shortstop as needed down the stretch and into the postseason, all while hitting a respectable .237/.294/.417 (98 wRC+) in the regular season and an excellent .328/.354/.508 during a torrid playoff run that earned him the NLCS MVP award.
Evidently, 53 games between regular season play and the postseason was all that the Dodgers needed to decide that Edman was a player they wanted to have on the team long-term. The utility man was due $9.5MM entering his final year before free agency, meaning that the deal actually guarantees Edman $64.5MM over four years in terms of new money, though the club option still gives the Dodgers an extra five years of control over Edman, who will play the 2030 season at the age of 35. Turning back to the guaranteed years, this deal theoretically increases the average annual value of Edman’s deal from $9.5MM to $14.8MM for the 2025 season, though it’s unclear where the final AAV calculation for the extension will land once the reported deferrals have been accounted for.
More to come…
