It took less than three months for Tommy Edman to endear himself to Dodgers fans.
Now he’ll be playing in front of them for the next half-decade.
The Dodgers agreed to a five-year, $74-million contract extension with Edman on Friday, the team announced, locking up their key trade deadline acquisition and National League Championship Series most valuable player in the second major move of their offseason.
Edman, 29, is a super utilityman whom the Dodgers had coveted for some time before this season, enamored from afar with his defensive versatility and switch-hitting capabilities as a Gold Glove winner on the St. Louis Cardinals.
As they approached this year’s trade deadline with needs at both shortstop and center field, the Dodgers acquired Edman, a product of La Jolla Country Day School and Stanford University, in a deal that sent Miguel Vargas and two prospects to the Chicago White Sox.
Though Edman didn’t make his season debut until Aug. 19 — he’d missed the first four months with wrist and ankle injuries — he batted .237 with a league-average .711 OPS in 37 regular-season games, collecting six home runs and 20 RBIs.
Read more: Dodgers agree to sign two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell
Then, in the postseason, Edman emerged as a critical piece of the Dodgers’ offense, batting .328 with 13 RBIs in 16 playoff games. He won NLCS MVP honors after batting .407 with 11 RBIs in the six-game series against the New York Mets.
Edman’s new deal, which runs through 2029 and reportedly includes some deferred money and a $13-million club option for 2030, will ensure he not only helps defend the team’s title next year (which would have been his last under club control), but remains a factor in their lineup for years beyond that.
Last season, Edman split time between shortstop (where the Dodgers also played Miguel Rojas) and center field (where the club also rotated Andy Pages, Kiké Hernández and Kevin Kiermaier), but took over as the everyday shortstop in the playoffs after Rojas got hurt in the NL Division Series.
Edman’s versatility should prove crucial again next year. After the Dodgers picked up Rojas’ club option and announced that Betts will probably return to the infield next season, the club currently has an abundance of infield options but is lacking outfield depth. While there is plenty of time in free agency for that to change — especially if the Dodgers make a push to re-sign Teoscar Hernández — Edman might be required to play a multi-positional role again.
Edman’s extension was struck just a few days after the Dodgers’ biggest offseason move so far, their $182-million signing of two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Blake Snell on Tuesday. That move pushed the Dodgers’ estimated luxury tax payroll for next season to about $305 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contract, which would have surpassed MLB’s highest threshold for tax penalties. Yet it didn’t stop the big-spending Dodgers from continuing to act aggressively.
One month removed from their World Series championship, they’re already maneuvering to try to win again.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
