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Bronson Arroyo didn't throw a single pitch in 2015, but his year was still quite busy.
What went right
Arroyo hasn't pitched in a game since June 15, 2014, and spent all of 2015 still recovering from Tommy John surgery.
But he did win over $13,000 playing roulette every day for a two-week period while sidelined.
The Dodgers acquired Arroyo as part of their three-team, 13-player trade with Atlanta and Miami on July 30, with the Braves picking up all but roughly $528,000 of the money due Arroyo, including his option buyout for 2016.
It was the second time in six weeks that Arroyo was traded, having also been dealt from Arizona to Atlanta in June.
What went wrong
Arroyo wasn't able to throw without pain during the season, and couldn't help the Dodgers down the stretch.
He also had his yacht stolen, though authorities in Miami did arrest the alleged perpetrator.
But the 38-year-old also seems to be dealing with things far darker, per Tom Ley at Deadspin:
Sometimes, he thinks about what comes after getting old. "I sit up at night and I think, ‘Dude, I can’t die. Like, I can’t die, bro,’" he says. "Because I’ve got too much to kill in this world. It drives me crazy that I can’t do everything I want to do in the next 20 years right now ... It eats at me."
2015 particulars
Age: 38
Stats: DNP
Salary: $9.5 million
Game of the year
He didn't pitch in 2015, but Arroyo's game of the year was the aforementioned roulette. Ley at Deadspin explained Arroyo's strategy:
So what’s the secret? It’s nothing special, really. Arroyo likes to bet on one number for 12 straight spins, then another number for the next 12, and so on. When he picks a new number, he always chooses one that hit in the last four or five spins. Arroyo estimates that this strategy wins him money eight out 10 times, and he says he usually leaves the casino at least $100 up.
Roster status
Arroyo has a birthday in February, but far before then the Dodgers have to decide whether to exercise his club option for 2016, worth $13 million, or instead pay him a $4.5 million buyout. Considering that Arroyo hasn't pitched since June 2014, the odds seem to lean heavily against the Dodgers making the $8.5-million decision to bring him back for his age-39 season.