Los Angeles Dodgers: Six biggest storylines entering the offseason

By Jason Reed | Oct 29, 2018

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 17: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after a play by Manny Machado #8 (not pictured) to end the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game Five of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers /

3. The catching situation for 2019

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a weird in-between year at the catcher position and it truly is unclear what the team is going to do for the 2019 season.

The Dodgers have a ton of catching depth in the farm system. Keibert Ruiz is the team’s best hitting prospect and has the potential to be a truly elite two-way catcher in the MLB. However, Ruiz is not ready to be an everyday MLB catcher; he likely will be a September call-up and the starting catcher in 2020.

The duties have been split between Yasmani Grandal and Austin Barnes. However, Grandal is entering free agency and Barnes showed in the postseason that he is very inconsistent at the plate. While he is fine in his role, I do not want him catching every day.

The same can be said about Grandal. Grandal was never really viewed as the long-term catcher in LA and his postseason woes dramatically hurt his free agent value this winter. With that in mind, there is a world in which Grandal signs a one-year deal with LA.

The most likely situation that will happen is that Grandal accepts the qualifying offer from Los Angeles, tries to redeem himself in 2019 and gets the payday he wants in a free agent class next winter that is pretty thin on catchers.

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