LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers made a $15.3 million qualifying offer to free-agent shortstop Hanley Ramirez on Monday, a move that guarantees they'll either have Ramirez for another season or receive a draft pick as compensation for losing him.
Ramirez, 30, batted .283 with 35 doubles and 13 home runs in 128 games for the Dodgers last season. The sides talked about a long-term contract extension as recently as spring training, but tabled those talks as Ramirez continued to deal with an assortment of injuries and the Dodgers became concerned about their infield defense.
The Dodgers will receive a supplemental draft pick between the first and second rounds if Ramirez signs with another team -- and all 22 players who have received qualifying offers over the past two seasons have turned them down.
Ramirez, who made $16 million last season, came to the Dodgers in a 2012 trade with the Miami Marlins, where he was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2006.
In two-plus seasons in Los Angeles, Ramirez has batted .299 with 43 homers, 172 RBIs and a .506 slugging percentage, but he was in and out of the lineup with a long assortment of injuries to his hamstring, thumb and shoulder.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly routinely replaced Ramirez with Miguel Rojas at shortstop to improve the team's defense late in games.
If Ramirez signs elsewhere, the Dodgers could enter the trade market for a starting shortstop. Their two primary in-house options include Rojas, who hit .181, and Erisbel Arruebarrena, a 24-year-old from Cuba who has played just 90 professional games in the U.S., 22 of them in the major leagues.
Monday's decision to extend a qualifying offer to Ramirez was the first major decision by new Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
The team also announced that reliever Brian Wilson picked up his 2015 option for $9.5 million. Wilson, a former closer who has had arm and velocity issues in recent seasons, was 2-4 with a 4.66 ERA last year.
Left-handed reliever Scott Elbert elected to become a free agent and was removed from the Dodgers' roster, the team announced.
