Mark Ellis Deal With Dodgers Now Official

The Dodgers on Tuesday finalized their contract with Mark Ellis, a two-year pact with a club option for the 2014 season, worth a total of $8.75 million.

Obligatory Ned Colletti quote: "Mark brings a veteran presence to our lineup and he knows how to handle the bat. On defense, he’s been one of the most dependable second basemen in baseball over the course of his career.”

Per Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, here is the payout schedule of the contract:

2012: $2.5 million
2013: $5.25 million
2014: $5.75 million club option ($1 million buyout)

In addition, , per Tony Jackson of ESPN LA, Ellis can earn up to $125,000 in incentives annually based on plate appearances: $25,000 each for 500, 525, 550, 575, and 600 PA.

Here are some trivial facts about Ellis that you may not have known:

• Ellis is one of four Dodgers to have been born in South Dakota, joining a trio of pitchers: RHP Raleigh Aitchison, LHP Lou Koupal, and LHP Terry Forster. Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson was also one of the 36 major league players born in South Dakota, and played six years in the Dodgers minor league system before getting traded to Philadelphia.
  
• He had four doubles and three home runs in his first three games with the Colorado Rockies after being traded by the Oakland A's. Ellis is the first player since 1900 with six extra-base hits in his first three games with a new club after a midseason trade, per Elias.
• Ellis stole 14 bases in 2011, tying his career high.
• Twice in Oakland, in 2005 and 2007, Ellis won the Catfish Hunter Award, "given annually to an A’s player whose play on the field and conduct in the clubhouse best exemplifies the courageous, competitive and inspirational spirit demonstrated by the A’s late Hall of Fame pitcher," the A's equivalent of the Dodgers' Roy Campanella Award.

There are now 34 players on the Dodgers' 40-man roster.