2 players from last year's Dodgers who will be missed, and 2 who won't be

The Dodgers' 2025 squad looks a lot like their World Series-winning team from last season. The team extended Tommy Edman and re-signed Teoscar Hernández, so the lineup will look almost exactly the same, outside of the additions of Michael Conforto and Hyeseong Kim. Still, there are a few notable absences from spring training this year.

While what the Dodgers were able to do during the offseason was thrilling and made an impossibly good team even better, there are a few guys no longer wearing Dodger blue who will be missed (and also a couple who won't be).

2 players from last year's Dodgers that will be missed, and 2 who won't be

Walker Buehler will be missed by Dodgers

It just felt like it was time for the Dodgers to part ways with Buehler after his tumultuous 2024 season, given all of the starters LA already had lined up for 2025 — and that was before Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki's additions. Still, it was a blow to fans who wanted to see him become a Dodger for life.

Those fans can rest assured that the Dodgers did try to keep him; they offered him the same $21.05 million the Red Sox did, but didn't extend him the qualifying offer so as not to hurt his market with the draft pick compensation attached to a QO. Maybe he just wanted a change of scenery, but his contributions to the Dodgers when he was at the height of his powers will always save him a place in fans' hearts.

Gavin Lux won't be missed

There are definitely some Lux truthers out there, but if we're all going to be honest, he just didn't have a place on the kind of team the Dodgers are trying to build. He did get hot in the second half of the season, hitting .304 with a .899 OPS, but the Dodgers' addition of Hyeseong Kim in the offseason meant that they had to shed Lux.

Now, could the Dodgers end up regretting this with Kim's performance at the plate so far in spring? Maybe. But for now, when the Reds don't even seem to have a clear handle on where they're going to put Lux (probably third, even though Spencer Steer will put up a fight for it), letting Lux go was for the best.

Jack Flaherty will be missed

Flaherty endeared himself quickly to Dodgers fans after the trade deadline, partially because he's a California native who grew up rooting for the Dodgers, and partially because he was one of the only starters holding the rotation together after the deadline. He wasn't as good in LA as he had been in Detroit for the first half, but he had a few truly great starts with the Dodgers.

Like Buehler, there was no room left in the rotation to invite Flaherty back, and seniority definitely put Buehler higher up on the team's priority list anyway. Still, fans can appreciate what Flaherty was able to do during his short stint in LA, and hopefully he'll keep the bounce back going now that he's back with the Tigers.

Joe Kelly won't be missed

Kelly will always be a fan favorite for things that have nothing to do with his actual pitching ability, but he hasn't really been a good pitcher since 2021. His 2022 season with the White Sox was catastrophic (and he pitched just 37 innings), and his half-season with them in 2023 also wasn't much better. He improved when the Dodgers took him back in a trade, but injuries kept him to just 10 1/3 innings in LA.

He was bad and hurt last season, and the Dodgers adding Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates were both massive upgrades from Kelly for the bullpen. So, okay, the guy stood up for his team against Carlos Correa once — that was cool — but we can move on from that now.