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Los Angeles Dodgers: What a perfect offseason would look like

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 19: Chris Taylor #3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers fields the ball hit by Christian Colon #10 of the Miami Marlins and flips it to Corey Seager #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Seager throws to first getting J.T. Realmuto #11 of the Miami Marlins out on the double play in the second inning of the game at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 19: Chris Taylor #3 of the Los Angeles Dodgers fields the ball hit by Christian Colon #10 of the Miami Marlins and flips it to Corey Seager #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Seager throws to first getting J.T. Realmuto #11 of the Miami Marlins out on the double play in the second inning of the game at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers /

5. Sign Bryce Harper

I would not be completely disappointed if the Los Angeles Dodgers do not sign Bryce Harper. The team does not necessarily need Harper next season to be successful but it is ignorant to ignore the impact Harper would have on the team.

Imagine having Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Bryce Harper in succession with the 2-3-4 spots in the order. Harper has already won an MVP, Seager has already finished as a finalist. That would be scary and produce a ton of runs.

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Yes, Harper does strike out a lot and does not hit for super high average but those aspects are far outweighed by his production. Plus, that is Harper at his worst. Batting .249 with 34 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .889 OPS is a career year for most guys. That is the floor for Harper.

Opposing pitchers won’t have the luxury of walking him a lot on the Dodgers and if they do will still have to deal with other power-hitting bats such as Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig and now J.T. Realmuto. There are no outs in this lineup.

Spotrac’s calculated market value for Harper gives him an annual salary of $31 million. I think Harper gets slightly more than that a year on a pretty big contract.

A long contract is a scary thing to commit to and I totally get that. However, Harper is still only 26 and the team can work out a player option late in the contract that could help both sides.

I see an 11-year deal (I know, weird length) worth $400 million. That pays Harper $36.36 million each season and the Dodgers can include a mutual option (where both sides have to agree) after year five as well as a player option after eight years.

If things go haywire, that frees the Dodgers up if Harper wants to go elsewhere and the Dodgers don’t want to pay him. Plus, he will still be Bryce Harper, so if anything crazy happens, trading him won’t be exceptionally hard.

Projected payroll: $195.36 million

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