Dodgers notes: Gavin Lux, Will Smith, Phil Bickford

It was a rough spring training defensively for Gavin Lux, whose throwing problems ended his time at shortstop, his original position. His taking over the position was first delayed a year by tearing his ACL in 2023, followed by this year’s struggles shifting him to second base.

Juan Toribio at MLB.com writes that Lux has gotten through the turmoil with the help of mental skills coach Brian Cain, who came via recommendation from Kiké Hernández.

“You just try to stay off that mental roller coaster as much as possible,” Lux told Toribio. “I think I’ve done a good job of that now.”

Will Smith is off to a hot start this season, including a double on Friday. He’s hit in every game, totaling seven hits in 17 at-bats (.412) to begin the season. In between a pair of two-game regular season stints, Smith signed the longest deal ever for a catcher.

Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs thoroughly analyzed Smith’s 10-year, $140 million pact, and also said of the relatively small sums paid to Smith in the latter half of the contract, “That’s a cool breeze running through Guggenheim Baseball Management’s bank account.”

Manager Dave Roberts said Smith will likely catch Saturday, then get a day off in favor of Austin Barnes behind the plate on Sunday, the middle game of a seven-game homestand for the Dodgers.

Old friend Phil Bickford was designated for assignment by the Mets to make room for another old friend when J.D. Martinez signed with New York. Then on Tuesday, the Mets released Bickford.

In February, Bickford won his arbitration case against the Mets, earning a $900,000 salary rather than the $815,000 the Mets offered. But while any contract agreements to avoid arbitration are guaranteed, salaries for players who go through a hearing are not guaranteed until opening day.

On a smaller-scale case than the J.D. Davis situation with the Giants a few weeks back, Bickford was instead only awarded termination pay for getting released. So instead of the $900,000 an arbitration panel agreed should be his salary in 2024, Bickford got $217,742, which is 45 days of termination pay, per the Associated Press. But he is now free to sign with another team.