Dodgers finalize 1-year deal with Shelby Miller

Dec 2, 2022 - 7:05 PM

The Dodgers on Friday made official their one-year contract with pitcher Shelby Miller. The right-hander will earn $1.5 million in 2023 in a deal that was first reported on Tuesday.

Miller, now 32, pitched in four major league games for the Giants in 2022, all in the final two weeks of the season. He allowed five runs in seven innings — all allowed in his final appearance, on October 3 — but most notably struck out 14 of 30 batters faced.

A longtime starter — making the National League All-Star team in 2015 with Atlanta, in a year he posted a 3.02 ERA in 33 starts and 205⅓ innings — Miller struggled mightily since then, posting a 7.02 ERA in 202⅔ major league innings from 2016-22, a period that included Tommy John surgery in 2017.

Miller switched to relief midway through the 2019 season while with the Rangers. In 2020 while on a minor league contract with the Brewers, Miller opted out of the season during the COVID-19 pandemic. He pitched in four organizations in 2021-22 combined, posting a 2.90 ERA in Triple-A for the Cubs, Pirates, Yankees, and Giants with a 33-percent strikeout rate in 77⅔ innings.

In those four MLB games with San Francisco, Miller’s slider/fastball combination produced a 6.43 ERA, 1.90 xERA, and 0.40 FIP in seven innings. Eno Sarris at The Athletic chimed in on the Dodgers’ bullpen addition on Tuesday:

Miller can reportedly earn up to $100,000 in performance bonuses as part of his deal, per Jon Heyman at the New York Post. The details of those incentives are not yet known.

Miller is one of eight Dodgers under contract for 2023, along with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes, and pitchers Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen. Clayton Kershaw’s reported one-year deal to return to Los Angeles for a 16th season, which was reported on November 10, has not yet been finalized.

With Miller officially in the fold, the Dodgers have 36 players on the 40-man roster, including 19 pitchers.