Chad Billingsley signs with Phillies

LOS ANGELES -- For the first time in his professional career, Chad Billingsley will be pitching for an organization that is not the Dodgers. The right-hander agreed to terms with the Phillies on Thursday to a one-year, $1.5 million contract for 2015.

Billingsley's contract also includes performance bonues, worth up to an extra $6.5 million per the Associated Press. Billingsley will earn $250,000 for each of one, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days on the active roster, $250,000 for each of 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 27 starts, and $750,000 for each of 120, 140, 160 and 180 innings.

Should Billingsley capture the comeback player of the year honors, he will earn a $50,000 bonus.

Billingsley, 30, was drafted by the Dodgers out of Defiance High School in Ohio in the first round of the 2003 draft, and spent 12 years in the organization. He pitched in parts of eight seasons for the Dodgers, going 81-61 with a 3.65 ERA, with 1,037 strikeouts in 1,175⅓ innings.

The right-hander lives in Robesonia, Penn. in the offseason.

Billingsley has been limited to two starts in the last two seasons, sidelined by a pair of elbow surgeries. He first suffered a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in August 2012, but elected to avoid surgery in lieu of platelet-rich plasma injections and rest.

After an offseason rehab program Billingsley made two starts in April 2013 for the Dodgers, going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings, but suffered a full tear of the UCL, which required season-ending Tommy John surgery.

During a pair of rehab assignments in 2014 returning from Tommy John surgery Billingsley felt something in his elbow. The first instance, in April, was chalked up to scar tissue and saw the pitcher get another PRP injection in his elbow, plus rest. But when the second rehab assignment was shut down, in June, it was discovered that Billingsley had a torn flexor tendon in his elbow that required another season-ending procedure.

Billingsley is expected to have a normal offseason throwing program and be ready at the start of spring training in 2015.

"Given Chad's track record, we feel he is an excellent candidate to bounce back as a productive starting pitcher," said Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. in a press release.

Billingsley will wear No. 38 with the Phillies. He wore 58 throughout his time with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers declined Billingsley's $14 million club option for 2015 on Oct. 31, instead paying him a $3 million buyout.

Billingsley's 190 starts are 14th-most by Dodgers pitcher since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1958, and his 81 wins rank 15th during that span.