Los Angeles Dodgers: Don’t expect any moves until the trade deadline
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been pretty inactive thus far in the offseason and Dodger fans should not be expecting that to change any time soon.
Despite setting a new franchise record with 106 wins in the regular season, the 2019 season still felt like a disappointment for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The National League Pennant seemed to be the Dodgers’ to lose and the Washington Nationals thought otherwise, beating the team in five games in the National League Division Series.
While it is slightly redeeming that the Nationals went on to win the World Series, it still was a massive disappointment after such a strong regular season. With those thoughts and feelings fresh in the fans’ minds, many expected the Dodgers to make some sort of big move in the offseason.
Heck, even Andrew Friedman said that the Dodgers were honing in on roughly 12 elite targets in the offseason, only adding fuel to this speculation.
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The Dodgers have not yet added an elite talent and it does not appear like that will change any time soon. While the team still has opportunities, I would not bank on the Dodgers actually making a massive move this winter.
The remaining big names that have been connected to the Dodgers are Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor, although there could always be a new name that emerges from the hot stove.
And while I obviously would not be opposed to the Los Angeles Dodgers acquiring either superstar, I am highly skeptical that anything will come to fruition. Quite frankly, unless the Dodgers are given no other alternative, it makes more sense to wait until the trade deadline.
As disappointing as it can feel to watch every big-name free agent sign elsewhere, we cannot mix those feelings up with the actual talent of the team. This is still a 106-win team that has four free agents this offseason — Hyun-Jin Ryu, Rich Hill, Russell Martin and David Freese.
Ryu was the only impactful player from last year’s team that cannot be easily replaced and we could still see Martin and maybe even Hill down the line return to the Dodgers.
Plus, this is a young team that, in theory, should only get better. Cody Bellinger has asserted himself as one of the best players in the league and will be in the MVP running yet again. Corey Seager should have a much better season than he had last year, which was a down year yet was still productive.
Walker Buehler is only going to get better, Julio Urias was great in his role and could be even better, Dustin May could be a huge impact player and the addition of Blake Treinen to the bullpen is huge.
A healthy Alex Verdugo will be a huge boost to the team and let’s not forget that in the second half, A.J. Pollock was fantastic. His awful showing in the NLDS has swayed Dodger fans’ opinions on Pollock but he was a guy that was essential against southpaws (hitting .323) and posted an .885 OPS with 13 home runs in the second half.
Yeah, his contract is not the best, but his contract not being great is not going to make him play worse this year. If we get second-half A.J. Pollock for the entire season (which is a lot to assume) then the Dodgers are going to be much better.
Simply put, this team is very talented and there are a lot of moving parts that the front office still has to figure out and there is no way to figure these things out until they see the team in action this season.
The only risk is if both the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox make it clear that they plan on moving on from their stars now and are not willing to wait, at that point the front office would have to weigh the options and see who might be available at the deadline to add.
But if Betts and Lindor do make it to the deadline, the prices for each player are going to be less, especially for Betts, who will only have half a season left under contract.
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While there still is a chance that the Los Angeles Dodgers make that big move, I certainly would not bank on it. If the season started today, with this team, they would still be the clear-cut favorites to win the National League Pennant. They have the luxury of patience.