Well, the baseball winter meetings are now a little over a week away. The big question for Dodger fans is what, if any, moves will the Dodgers make.
A couple of free agents have come off of the board: Lynn to the Cardinals, Gibson to the Cardinals, DeJong to the White Sox, and the biggest fish so far, Nola back to the Phillies.
Usually, there is a lull until the week after Thanksgiving. Teams wanting to make moves before the meetings will sometimes sign fringe players before going after their real targets.
You can bet your house that the Dodgers in division rivals are not going to be sitting idle. The Giants have been linked to numerous free agents, including Cody Bellinger. Seems Zaidi has an affinity for ex- Dodgers.
The Padres, despite losing their owner last week, signed a new manager and are said to be talking trades concerning Juan Soto. The Padres are looking to shed 50 million in payroll.
The D-Backs struck first, trading for Suarez from the Mariners. And it has been noted they have an interest in several free agents.
The Rockies traded for Cal Quantrill from the Guardians as their first major addition to the team. The rest of their plan seems to be using their kids for the moment. They had a couple of nice debuts by players this season. Most notably, Nolan Jones.
So far, the Dodgers’ only free-agent addition is pitcher Ricky Vanasco. They tendered contracts to all of their arbitration-eligible players. So the roster sits at 39.
That alone gives the feeling that they will be very active in the trade market. The only way to create roster space now is through trades… and trades, including multiple players heading the other way.
The rumors about a deal with the White Sox for Dylan Cease persist. Rumors of a deal for Corbin Burnes are still out there, too. Not to mention the free agency of Yamamoto, Imanaga, and Ohtani.
It is going to be a very interesting two weeks.
Discussion (16)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I need a sarcasm font.
The Dodgers are going for Ohtani. They may not make him the biggest offer, but they will probably make the smartest offer. Ohtani can leverage the Dodger brand, and vice versa, to the greater glory (and profits) of both.
And I think it’s likely that Ohtani will attract other free agents, perhaps Yamamoto or Imanaga.
An interviewer ask Kike about the prospect of Ohtani on the Dodgers.
To paraphrase Kike: What player wouldn’t want a front-row seat?
Andrew Friedman ‘obsessed’ to sign Ohtani
Ohtani undeniably is the headliner of MLB free agency this winter, and Friedman has been described as being “obsessed” with signing the two-way superstar.
Yes, we can.
Getting an ace should be the priority, and Burnes qualifies. Getting a lefty is a secondary concertn.
Burnes (or Cease) would come cheaper that Snell. Snell is a lefty, but for a few reasons (including Boras) I don’t see Snell coming. Or Jordan Montgomery either.
But Imanaga seems possible. And why not Ryu?
How about:
Burnes/Cease , Buhler, Miller, Imanaga, Pepiot, Ryu.
This six-man rotation assumes that Sheehan is packaged for Burnes or Cease, and both Imanaga and Ryu are signed as FAs. We’d have TWO southpaws in the rotation.
A six-man rotation in ’24 would transition well to ’25, when Ohtani is ready to resume pitching,
“If you’re always rational about every free agent, then you will finish third on every free agent.” Time to lose your mind AF!
Though I would like to see Ohtani in a Dodgers uniform he represents SUCH a huge LONG TERM risk in dollars, time and performance. And each of those separately as a pitcher and as a hitter.
I can see it happening because those in-the-know have information about the extent of his surgery, recovery and personal desires for the remainder of his career. Plus he potentially represents big promotional opportunities internationally.
But I can also see the risks just flat “pinging” Friedman’s known reluctance to sign any pitcher long term much less one with this much downside potential….unless ownership has directed him to get it done.
According to David Vassegh of AM 570 L.A. Sports Radio, the expectation remains that the Dodgers will sign Ohtani:
Demand heavily outweighs supply with so many teams looking to add front line starters with really not very many to be had will make it hard and expensive to acquire just one much less the two some of us think would take to win that elusive ring. If Friedman could pull that off I’d be more prone to jump on that bandwagon some on here ride
Extra credit to Mark for working some Jimmy Buffet into a Thanksgiving day post on a Dodger blog.
Syndergaard has received interest from several teams. Doubt the Dodgers are one of them. As much as I do like Burnes, I do not want to see them trade controllable guys for rentals. I would rather see them trade for Cease. Consider this, Cease has two years of control left. He is also two years younger than Burnes. If they want to expand the trade and try to get Roberts, I am all in with that. I cannot see trading a couple of prospects and maybe Lux for a couple guys who can walk after the season. Report on google news said Nola did not want to play in Los Angeles. In the trades AF has made for rentals, he generally has not given up much. Only in the Scherzer-Turner deal have all the prospects he traded stayed with the team they were traded to. Of the five guys traded for Machado, Kremer is the only one still with the Orioles, Pop is with Toronto and Diaz just signed with the Giants. None of the players traded for Darvish are still with Texas. None of the players traded for Rich Hill are still with the A’s and only Frankie Montas is in the majors.
I’m liking the growth I seen in Sheehan thru last year and with quality starters hard to come by hate to see him or Pepiot involved in any trade. Especially with pitching depth being so important these days. Sure seems like more than ever there goes another to Tommy John or some other surgery. It’s pretty much guaranteed the same five that start the year will be much different come October, need all we can get. Pitching wins
I love Burnes, but can we really go without a left handed starter? I honestly think we need a top tier lefty and maybe a cheaper lefty so we at least have one to throw in every series. What’s the plan here??
Well whatever happens we need two starters and two bats. Right now we have Muncy and Busch at third and DH. Lux at short, Vargas at 2nd, Outman in CF and who knows in LF. That lineup and our existing starters will not win a WS! AF has a lot of work to do!
anyway we can make that deal with out lux included?
MLB.com has some trade suggestions:
https://www.mlb.com/news/hypothetical-blockbuster-deals-for-2023-2024-offseason?partnerId=zh-20231124-1099909-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20231124-1099909-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=bpdnuGd99MdbsACCoknQG3O%2BW2l0TZPSiT484np0hcZW6LlKDlwNCzlblhfBMBH9&bt_ts=1700835767943
Here’s one that you heard here first, folks:
LA is Burnes-ing
Dodgers get: RHP Corbin Burnes and SS Willy Adames
Brewers get: INF Gavin Lux and RHP Emmet Sheehan
Burnes and Adames to the Dodgers feels like a layup. It makes so much sense that it’s bound to … not happen. Such is baseball.
But seriously, the Dodgers need pedigree in their ravaged rotation and a surer solution at shortstop, and a Brew Crew club in transition has both of those things to offer. Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young winner, and Adames are both under control for one more year, and Los Angeles seems to prefer short-term options over longer-term entanglements.
The only question is the return. What I’ve submitted here are two controllable Major League pieces that could help the Brewers remain competitive (maybe the Dodgers would have to kick in some more lower-tier prospects to sweeten the deal).
Lux’s prospect sheen has taken a tumble, and he missed all of 2023 due to a terrible Spring Training knee injury. But he’s only entering his age-26 season, he’s on track to be back in ’24 and — most important of all, of course — he’s from Kenosha!
It’s possible, though, that the Brewers will look for even younger and more controllable options as the centerpieces of a swap if or when they deal these two prominent pending free agents. We know Burnes is a catch, but it will be interesting to see what Adames’ trade value is, given the dearth of quality shortstop help available in free agency.
i hope so Bear! it’s time to blow the rest of this division completely out of the water! hopefully the giants go ofer this offseason. hopefully the padres continue their dysfunctional ways. the rockies are the rockies. but, be just a bit leary of the diamond backs. they are a couple of moves from being much better than last year! i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. i spent mine with my family. 5 grandkids with 2 more due in january. my youngest son gave me an early christmas present last night. a steve garvey signed baseball, he was my favorite until clayton came along! lets go big blue!
It has been speculated Ohtani will sign before or during the Winter Meetings. We’ll see. I think the “framework” has been laid at the GM meetings for some of these rumored trades, so we can expect many to be finalized and announced at the Winter Meetings.
I expect AF to come away from the meetings with at least one SP (trade or FA signing) and Ohtani. He will then use the rest of the offseason acquiring additional SP with some reclamation projects such as Giolito and/or Flaherty as strong possibilities.