Earlier this week, the Dodgers and pitcher Tony Gonsolin agreed on a two-year, $6.65 million contract to avoid arbitration both this year and next. It’s Gonsolin’s first two years of arbitration (out of four total, because he qualified a year early with Super Two status), so it’s his first big payday, although he actually pulled in about $1.2 million last year between his salary and his share of the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
But guaranteeing himself nearly $7 million over the next two years, with very accessible escalators that could push it to around $10 million, is a huge milestone in Gonsolin’s young career. Gonsolin went on MLB Network and talked with former Dodgers reporter Alanna Rizzo, who is back at MLBN after several years in LA, and he talked about how exciting it is to get that financial security.
“It’s awesome. That’s kind of the goal to get that security to go out there and just compete and not have to worry about anything. You know you’re going to come back, you know you’re set up for the next two years and you just get to go out there and throw.”
Rizzo asked Gonsolin what it was about 2022 that allowed him to have so much success. The righty was 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA and was a legitimate Cy Young contender before a forearm strain caused him to miss most of the last six weeks of the season.
“I was able to repeat my delivery for most of the year. I think that led to me being in the strike zone a lot more and being effective with all my pitches and, luckily, got some guys out when I needed to.”
Alanna then asked Tony what plans he has with his newfound financial security, and his answer was very practical.
“I’ve been looking into buying a house, so that’ll probably be the first thing. Get settled in a location and have a good spot to be.”
Gonsolin should have at least four more years in Los Angeles, so getting settled is a good idea. Hopefully he’ll continue to pitch as well as he did in 2022 and earn himself a lot more money.
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