After pitching in parts of 8 major league seasons and for 8 teams, Banda is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time heading into 2025.
Anthony Banda joined the Dodgers in May and found a home in the bullpen, proving to be one of the most durable workhorses among the group of self-appointed dawgs.
The Dodgers are Banda’s eighth major league team, and 2024 was the best of his eight major league seasons to date, setting career bests in games (48), innings (49⅔), strikeouts (50), ERA (3.08), and even saves (two).
Banda climbed up Dave Roberts’ trust tree as the season wore on, and he pitched in 10 of the club’s 16 postseason games, allowing only one run with 11 strikeouts in his eight innings in October on the way to a championship.
Now with three years, 135 days of major league service time, the 31-year-old Banda is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time.
Given Banda’s relatively low career totals, he’s not going to break the bank in his first year of arbitration. There has been a number of these type of players, with between 100 and 200 career innings through three years of service time, and no more than a handful or two of saves. Some of these comparable pitchers might look familiar, as they were used last year when Alex Vesia was eligible for arbitration for the first time.
The upper bound for this group of pitchers are Enyel De Los Santos at $1.6 million and Dillon Tate at $1.5 million. Both were coming off excellent full seasons in their previous season before their first arbitration year, with Tate putting up a 3.05 ERA in 67 games and 73⅔ innings in 2022 and De Los Santos posting a 3.29 ERA in 70 games and 65⅔ innings in 2023.
Banda was close in performance to those two in his launch year, but in about 75 percent of the innings.
The other 19 pitchers on that list from the previous two seasons range between $850,000 to $1.25 million, with an average salary of $1.05 million and a median salary of $1.025 million. Projections for Banda are in the same range, with MLB Trade Rumors tabbing Banda at $1.1 million in 2025 and Cot’s Baseball Contracts saying the left-hander will make $1 million.
The only thing I might add is that the minimum salary raised from $720,000 in 2023 and $740,000 in 2024 to $760,000 in 2025. Whether that means a slight upward adjustment in these lower-end projections, I’m not sure.
But I’ll pick an old friend from the comparable pitchers above, and say Banda in 2025 will match Josh Sborz from 2024 and make $1.025 million this year.