Four of his nine postseason home runs came in 2021, including a walk-off to win the National League wild card game and a three-homer game to keep Los Angeles alive in Game 5 of the NLCS.įor the latter, Taylor got a curtain call at Dodger Stadium. Taylor is one of five Dodgers to play in 60 postseason games.
Just over half (53.2 percent) of True Blue LA readers picked the Dodgers as Taylor’s free agent destination.
Accounting for the truncated 2020 campaign, that averages out somewhere between 3.2-3.4 WAR for Taylor per full season once he became a regular with the Dodgers.Ī composite of national MLB free agent predictions had Taylor pegged for roughly a four-year contract at $60-65 million, which is also in line with our writers roundtable here at True Blue LA. Since the start of 2017, Taylor ranks 20th in the National League in both Baseball Reference WAR (14.8) and FanGraphs WAR (14.1). In 2021, Taylor made $7.8 million in the second season of a two-year contract that bought out his final two years of salary arbitration eligibility. Taylor’s 113 wRC+ marked a fifth straight season with above-average offense, incredible production from someone who’s started at shortstop, second base, third base, and all three outfield positions throughout his career. He set career highs in runs scored (92), runs batted in (73), and walks (63). He started at six different positions and hit. He made his first All-Star team last season, in what was a fairly typical Chris Taylor year. But that’s moot now, with his return to Los Angeles. Taylor on November 17 rejected the Dodger’ qualifying offer of one year, $18.4 million, which would have meant a compensatory pick for the Dodgers after the fourth round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Those two deals were finalized Wednesday, as was Corey Knebel’s one-year, $10 million contract with Philadelphia.
Max Scherzer got $130 million over three years in New York and Corey Seager signed with Texas for 10 years, $325 million. Taylor is the fourth Dodgers free agent to sign this offseason, and the first to return. Sheldon Neuse was designated for assignment to make room on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster. Barring a last-minute change, this will likely be the last Dodgers transaction for a while.
PT on Wednesday night once the collective bargaining agreement expires. The timing is interesting, with a lockout expected after 8:59 p.m.