Chad Billingsley stayed away from arbitration by inking a one-year, $3.85 million deal. His deal last season was for $475,000.
Billingsley had one of the strangest seasons I can recall a starting pitcher having last year. In the first half, he looked every bit like the ace the Dodgers thought he could be. His 9-4 record and 3.38 ERA earned him a trip to St. Louis for the All Star Game.
Then he plummeted in the second half, going 3-7 with a 5.20 ERA. He was also winless in his last seven starts. Any way you look at it, it was ugly. And quite shocking that he just flat out fell apart.
Bills did battle hamstring issues on a couple of different occasions, but he also said that a mechanical flaw was his biggest problem. I'm not sure I can totally believe that it's solely because of a mechanical flaw, but who knows. I just think things went from bad to worse, and he was mentally fried when it was all said and done.
Lousy end or not, he's firmly in the rotation this upcoming season, as only Clayton Kershaw and Hiroki Kuroda are etched in stone. The Dodgers are still looking to add another arm, but that shouldn't affect Billingsley from staying in the rotation. Let's hope he has his stuff figured out.
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