Dodgers Roundtable: Offseason review heading into Spring Training

2. Many people thought the Dodgers would land either Shohei Ohtani or Giancarlo Stanton. Are you disappointed that they didn’t land either of them?

Sarah:

I’m a little disappointed that the Dodgers didn’t land Giancarlo Stanton. I think that his tendency to hit the ball out of the park would help the Dodgers immensely. At the same time, his contract is so large that, if the Dodgers had traded for him, they wouldn’t have much flexibility in making other deals.

Also, it means that Stanton would be a Dodger until his age 38 season, and anything can happen between now and 2028. Though his talent would help the Dodgers now, his contract could have been an issue down the road. Since the Yankees ended up trading for Stanton and the Angels ended up signing Shohei Ohtani, neither deal will affect the Dodgers until any potential World Series matchups.

Jamaal:

I’ve been advocating for the Dodgers to get Stanton and I didn’t care what the cost was. The Dodgers haven’t had the type of slugging that Stanton offered since Matt Kemp was an MVP candidate. If you watched the World Series a slugger like Stanton would have been the difference when the Dodgers lineup struggled.

Ohtani would have been fun to watch in a Dodgers uniform, but I felt he was never a realistic option because of his desire to hit and pitch. He was always going to choose an AL team where he could DH.

Jason:

At first, I was furious about the Dodgers missing out on Stanton. They practically had the Marlins in the palm of their hand. LA could have easily afforded to give up elite prospects and still have a promising farm system.

Granted, I heard the reports that the Marlins wouldn’t take on a big contract like Scott Kazmir or Adrian Gonzalez and that is what drove the Dodgers away. Still, after seeing what the Yankees gave up, the Dodgers could have sent one established big league talent (like Ryu), a top-five prospect, let’s say Mitchell White and other lesser prospects.

Then, they still would have had Alex Verdugo, who they could have packaged to a team like the Braves or White Sox alongside Gonzalez. They could have potentially tried to package a young guy like Joc Pederson with Kazmir to do the same effect.

Now, I am a little less upset about Stanton, but it is kind of disappointing. Who knows what went on behind closed doors. As for Ohtani, I never really expected him to come to LA, so I was not upset then.