Dodgers decline $2.5 million 2016 option on Joel Peralta

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers have declined their 2016 club option on right-hander Joel Peralta to their bullpen, opting not to pay him $2.5 million next season. Instead, he's a free agent.

There is no buyout.

Peralta, who will turn 40 in March, was 3-1 with a 4.34 ERA and three saves in 33 games, with 24 strikeouts and eight walks in 29 innings.

It was a season interrupted by injuries for Peralta in 2015. He missed two months from April 24 to June 23 with right shoulder soreness and a pinched nerve in his neck, then missed another four weeks in August with a right neck sprain. But he recovered to pitch well in September, striking out 11 while walking none in nine innings, allowing only two runs in the season's final month.

That finishing push, coupled with an uptick in velocity from being healthy, earned Peralta a spot in the Dodgers' roster for the National League Division Series against the Mets.

Peralta was acquired from the Rays on Nov. 20 2014 in a four-player deal, the first major trade made by Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, and 2015 was the fifth straight year Peralta pitched for a Friedman-led team.

If that streak extends to a sixth year, it will have to be on a separate deal.

After declining three club options and other moves on Friday, the Dodgers' 40-man roster now has 36 players.