Ethier is Free Agent After Dodgers Decline $17.5M Option

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Dodgers have declined outfielder Andre Ethier's $17.5 million club option, making the longest-tenured player on the team a free agent.

He was in the final year of an $85 million, five-year deal. The Dodgers will pay a $2.5 million buyout.

The team has younger left-handed hitting outfielders, including Joc Pederson and Andrew Toles.

The 35-year-old Ethier missed most of the last two seasons because of a broken right leg in 2016 and a herniated disk this season. Both times, he recovered to make the postseason roster.

After not throwing a baseball or swinging a bat until Aug. 1, Ethier returned on Sept. 1. He appeared in eight of the Dodgers' 15 postseason games. He set a franchise record playing in his 51st postseason game during the World Series and drove in the team's only run in Game 7 with a pinch-hit single in a 5-1 loss to Houston.

The two-time All-Star had spent his entire 12-year career with the Dodgers. He is a career .285 hitter and has 162 home runs.

Los Angeles faced a Monday deadline to decide on second baseman Logan Forsythe. The club has an $8.5 million option for 2018 with a $1 million buyout.