Dylan Hernandez @dylanohernandez Source: #Dodgers moving toward a one-year deal with left-hander J.P. Howell. Contract still hasn't been finalized. It's not a huge signing, but essential given our lack of reliable depth for lefties in the bullpen
For 2.75 mil I believe, with some performance bonuses. He has been used as a normal reliever, to get people out on both sides of the plate, but struggles vs righties last year meanwhile excelled vs lefties. Like it
Dodgers To Sign J.P. Howell By Mike Axisa [January 4 at 9:33pm CST] 9:33pm: Olney and Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com report that Howell will earn $2.85MM with another $1.2MM available via performance bonuses (Twitter links). 8:07pm: The Dodgers have agreed to sign J.P. Howell to a one-year deal worth a little less than $3MM, reports ESPN's Buster Olney. Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times first reported the two sides were moving towards an agreement. The left-hander is a Legacy Sports Group client. Howell, 29, pitched to a 3.04 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 50 1/3 innings for the Rays last season after missing all of 2010 and part of 2011 due to shoulder surgery. He held left-handed batters to a .200/.306/.306 batting line with a 52.4% ground ball rate in 2012. Howell is a soft-tosser, averaging just 87.1 mph with his fastball last year according to PitchFX. The Dodgers have not been shy about spending over the last eight months or so. They've re-signed Brandon League while adding Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu this offseason, plus they acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and others during the season. Howell replaces the departed Randy Choate, who took a three-year deal with the Cardinals a few weeks ago. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes did not rank Howell as one of the offseason's Top 50 Free Agents. As our Free Agent Tracker shows, lefties relievers like Will Ohman, J.C. Romero, and Manny Parra remain unsigned. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Predicted this in the old FA prediction thread along with Zack. Finally they listened to me! Good signing, good also to have competition in our bullpen and you never know about Beli and his "issues", we may need Howell alot more than we think.
