Dodgers: Prioritizing the Dodgers’ top five potential offseason targets

4. Yu Darvish

Right now, a lot of Dodger fans likely are not to fond of right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish. Darvish was the icing on the cake for the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline. At the time, the team was already streaking and looked poised to break the MLB wins record. Now, with Darvish pitching behind Kershaw, the Dodgers looked unbeatable.

Darvish backed up the hype with two strong performances in the playoffs prior to the World Series. Darvish threw a combined 11.1 innings in the NLDS and NLCS, allowing just two runs with 14 strikeouts. For a postseason that was filled with runs and home runs aplenty, Darvish was an interesting change of pace.

However, that all changed in the World Series. Darvish was roughed up in game five, allowing four runs in 1.2 innings of work. Then, Darvish was called upon to pitch game seven of the World Series. Although in hindsight a lot of Dodger fans are outraged; this is exactly why the team traded Darvish.

As we all know Darvish allowed five runs and failed to get out of the second inning. Although it was not completely his fault (as the offense floundered) he does deserve some blame.

At the end of the day though, Darvish is still a great pitcher that with the right tweaking could return to his dominant self. The Japanese right-hander seemingly loved it in LA and should be open for a return. However, there are better options to first pursue.