Dodgers sign Bellinger to one-year, $17-million deal

LOS ANGELES — Before Major League Baseball’s lockout began at the start of this month, the Dodgers quietly checked one important item off their winter to-do list.

The team agreed to a one-year, $17-million US contract with former MVP Cody Bellinger to avoid arbitration, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The deal was finished before the lockout began on Dec. 2 — all offseason activity has since been halted — but wasn’t revealed publicly until Thursday.

The $17-million salary represents a $900,000 raise from what the outfielder earned this last season. Bellinger, 26, is entering his third of four arbitrationeligible seasons and is set to become a free agent after the 2023 campaign.

The deal comes in the wake of a roller-coaster season for Bellinger, who struggled with injuries and woeful production during the regular season before rebounding with a promising performance in the playoffs.

The two-time all-star and 2019 MVP underwent surgery following the team’s 2020 World Series title for a right shoulder injury he sustained in a celebration with then-teammate Kiké Hernández during that year’s National League Championship Series.

The ensuing recovery limited his offseason training program. He then suffered a hairline fracture in his left fibula during the opening week of the campaign that kept him out for almost two months.

Once he returned, he struggled to find consistency at the plate. His batting average never got back above .200 after July 4. He finished with only 10 home runs and 36 RBIs, by far career-lows for a full-length season. And he suffered a couple other injuries, missing

10 games with left hamstring tightness and eight more because of fractured ribs.