One week into the start of the Major League Baseball offseason, the Dodgers They are still in the process of finalizing their plans for next winter.
It is true that they are trying to “catch up a little bit right now,” as general manager. Brandon Gomes say it, but they’re happy to be after spending the last month winning the World Series.
“Very good problem for us,” Gomes said Wednesday. “I happily exchange that every year.”
Still, the Dodgers’ offseason began to take center stage at this week’s general managers’ meetings at the JW Marriott outside San Antonio.
And with the hot stove set to fully heat up for the rest of this month, here are some takeaways on the team’s situation.
Mookie Betts returns to the draw
The big news from Gomes’ press session on Wednesday: Mookie Betting He is likely to return to the frame in 2025.
Betts, of course, began this season as the Dodgers’ everyday shortstop after playing the infield part-time (mostly at second base) in 2023. He returned to his traditional spot in right field after recovering from a broken hand In August, both he and the team decided what best suited their squad.
Now, however, the club’s “assumption,” as Gomes put it, is that Betts will return to earth next season, although it’s not yet “set in stone” exactly what that will look like.
“I know for him the bodily harm is less in the infield,” Gomes said of Betts, a 32-year-old veteran with six Gold Gloves in right field. “But the beauty of Mookie is that he is the most selfless superstar we have ever met. And that permeates the team.”
Betts’ expected move, which he and the team have discussed in recent weeks, will further emphasize one of the Dodgers’ biggest needs this winter: corner outfielders.
The easiest way to address that would be to re-sign Teoscar Hernández, who had a resurgent season with the Dodgers in 2024 and enters free agency looking for a longer-term deal than the one-year, $23.5 million contract he signed for come. to Los Angeles last offseason.
The move could also make the Dodgers another player in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, although it’s still unclear whether the club will be willing to pay the $600 million or more that will likely be needed to land the 26-year-old superstar.
If Betts primarily plays second base (the team has other shortstop options in Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas) that could significantly reduce Gavin Lux’s role as well, after his strong finish through 2024.
When asked what this means for Lux, Gomes played coy.
“Gavin has been a big part of our success,” he said. “Especially in the second half, when he recovered from the ACL injury (which sidelined him for all of 2023), he was a big part of our team. “I think Mookie’s ability to play in so many places is only beneficial for us.”
Initial launch options
The Dodgers’ other big need this offseason, Gomes confirmed Wednesday, is starting pitching.
And while the free agent market is rich in veteran talent, the team is also monitoring star Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki.
A 23-year-old right-hander with a triple-digit fastball and a career 2.02 ERA in his native Nippon Professional Baseball League, it’s unclear if Sasaki will be designated for MLB clubs to sign this offseason. . But if he is, it will be a bargain, since the league’s rules for international free agents under 25 would restrict him to signing only a minor league contract with a modest signing bonus (similar to when Shohei Ohtani, then also of 23 years old, signed with the Angels for $2.3 million in 2017).
Sasaki, whom Gomes declined to discuss Wednesday because he is still under club control in Japan, has long been coveted by the Dodgers and heavily scouted by their executives in recent years.
And with the Dodgers considered favorites to land him if he reaches MLB this winter, he could represent management’s dream acquisition: a young, talented, cost-controlled pitcher to bolster a starting rotation beset by injuries in recent years.
The Dodgers, of course, will have other avenues if Sasaki doesn’t become their latest Japanese acquisition.
Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell would be the most obvious name for the Dodgers to pursue. Last spring, the team made a late play for the left-hander before he signed with the San Francisco Giants. And while the soon-to-be 32-year-old is expected to land the kind of nine-figure contract that eluded him last offseason, his track record of lasting success (he’s ranked in the top 15 in the majors in both ERA and starts since 2017 ) should make him a top target again for the Dodgers this winter.
If it’s not Snell, the Dodgers could turn to other big names.
Corbin Burnes is a former Cy Young winner whom the Dodgers had trade interest in last year, although he is projected to get even more money than Snell, which could keep him out of the Dodgers’ plans.
Max Fried is a Harvard-Westlake product who has a career 3.25 ERA, but he also battled forearm injuries the past two seasons, something the Dodgers will have to weigh given the other health question marks. that already populate their pitching staff.
The next tier of starting free agents includes Jack Flaherty (the Dodgers’ key trade deadline acquisition last year), Nathan Eovaldi (a veteran the Dodgers were monitoring at the trade deadline before trading for Flaherty ), Yusei Kikuchi, Sean Manaea and Luis. Severino.
Read more: ‘Run it again.’ Will the Dodgers keep the roster together for their World Series defense?
And then there’s Walker Buehler, whom the Dodgers remain interested in re-signing even after declining to extend him a one-year, $21 million qualifying offer this week.
The Dodgers could be open to continuing to pay Buehler something in that ballpark, depending on how the rest of their market plays out. And Gomes emphasized that Buehler’s contributions in the postseason, including closing Game 5 of the World Series on a day’s rest, “are not lost on us.”
At the same time, however, it’s possible that Buehler could get bids beyond what the Dodgers are willing to match, especially since he’s not encumbered by the qualifying offer (which, had he rejected it, would have required other teams to give up draft compensation to sign him).
Like most things this time of year, the Dodgers remain in wait-and-see mode for now.
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.