My Dream Offseason for the Dodgers

Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

What moves can the Dodgers make in the coming weeks that would make me happy?

The Dodgers have already had a busy offseason despite not making many roster moves. Time will tell whether Dave Roberts will be an upgrade at manager over Don Mattingly, but the Dodgers will undoubtably look different next year, both in their coaching staff and on the roster.

The Winter Meeting will kick off on December 7 in Nashville, TN, and are usually a very busy time for all teams, including the Dodgers. It feels sort of quiet right now, a calm before the storm sort of thing before all hell breaks loose and everyone gets traded for everyone.

Last year’s Winter Meetings saw Brandon McCarthy, Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins, Yasmani Grandal, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Hatcher and Austin Barnes become Dodgers while Dee Gordon, Matt Kemp and Dan Haren, among others, were jettisoned from LA. Lots of moves can and will be made, probably out of nowhere, but here is my best case scenario for the Winter Meetings and the rest of the offseason.

Next: Move an Outfielder

Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

1. Trade Andre Ethier, maybe Carl Crawford, definitely Alex Guerrero

I wrote about trading Ethier Ad nauseam the other day. The Sparknotes version of that is basically that he’s about to gain 10-5 Rights (giving him veto power over any trade) and his value will probably never be higher than it is right now.

Ethier is a more likely trade candidate in my eyes because he could possibly bring back a useful player. He won’t bring back an ace or be the headliner of a blockbuster, but if the Dodgers pay off enough of his contract, the Angels, Orioles or Indians would probably have interest in the 33-year old outfielder and he could return a solid back-of-the-rotation starter or a decent middle reliever.

Crawford’s contract is worse than Ethier’s, but while Ethier is coming off a great year, Crawford is coming off an injury plagued year where he never really got in rhythm. His speed could still be a gamechanger if he can stay on the field, but even if the Dodgers were to dump him they wouldn’t get anything useful back.

Guerrero has next to no use for the Dodgers. He showed a lot of promise with the bat early on last year, but fell back down to earth hard and never showed the ability to play defense at any position. I doubt he has any value to any NL team, but an AL team in need of a DH could take a flier. His contract further complicates a move as he can’t be sent to the minors without his permission and he can become a free agent at the end of any season in which he’s traded, but I don’t see a place for him on the team next year.

Next: Sign Pitching

Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

2. Sign an ace and a couple other pitchers

Clayton Kershaw is obviously the alpha dog and there’s no other pitcher in baseball that would take that spot from him. However, having another ace behind Kershaw was huge over the last couple years.

The Dodgers need pitchers behind Kershaw, whether it be ace types or other rotation guys. Right now, their rotation consists of Kershaw, Alex Wood, Brett Anderson, and maybe eventually Hyun-jin Ryu and McCarthy. Most of their stud minor leaguers are still a year or more away, so the Dodgers will have to turn to trades or free agency to fill out the rotation. They have the prospects and pieces to make trades work, but it would be more wise for them to spend money instead of prospects to get an ace.

The Dodgers picked a great offseason to desperately need pitching, as there are a few aces to be had. In contrast, next years’ free agency class is extremely weak (Andrew Cashner is arguably the second best pitcher in next years’ FA class behind Stephen Strasburg). This year, Zack Greinke and David Price are the top prizes, but Johnny Cueto is another ace-type that will likely command less money. A tier lower, there are guys like Ian Kennedy, Jeff Samardzija and Mike Leake, who no one will mistake as aces but are valuable innings eaters.

J.A. Happ just got a three year, $36 million deal from Toronto. Relatively speaking, Greinke or Price should probably get 40 times that. They’ll realistically each command closer to $150-$200 million. Thankfully, the Detroit Tigers normalized the market by reportedly signing Jordan Zimmermann to a reasonable five year, $110 million contract. I was never firmly in the “sign Zimmermann” camp, but that’s an extremely fair price for a pitcher of his talents, so hopefully that sets the market and Greinke and Price sign for reasonable amounts.

While the team that won the World Series literally had Edinson Volquez and Chris Young in their WS rotation, it would still feel horrible for the Dodgers to not bring in an ace and another pitcher or two. I’d personally be shocked if Greinke or Price weren’t in Dodger blue next year, but they also shouldn’t stop there. Adding a lower tier guy could be just as valuable.

Also, don’t sign Mat Latos please.

Next: Get Another OF Back?

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

4. Add some relief help

The bullpen has been one of the weak spots for the Dodgers over the last couple years. There’s no denying that, but last year’s bullpen was slightly less garbage.

The key parts of the bullpen showed promise. Obviously, when Chin-hui Tsao and Sergio Santos were coming into games, things didn’t go so well. But Yimi Garcia and Chris Hatcher both showed flashes of dominance when healthy, J.P. Howell was still dependable and Kenley Jansen was dominant. Those four should ideally form a solid couple innings of relief.

There’s still room for more, and bullpen help can come in different ways. The Dodgers are seen as a frontrunner for Darren O’Day, which despite his age and lower velocity, would be a great addition. Other free agent relievers like Tyler Clippard and Tony Sipp could also be interesting additions on the free agency front.

On the trade market, there is one name that has everyone excited: Aroldis Chapman. The actual baseball analyzing side of me thinks the Dodgers don’t need him. But the baseball fan side of me sees 103 on the radar gun and wants the Dodgers to trade everything for him.

Next: Recap With Specific Moves

Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

5. RECAP

Most of this slideshow seemed pretty obvious, so here are the specifics of what I’m hoping happens this offseason (just spitballing here)

Trade Andre Ethier+cash and Zach Lee to CLE for Trevor Bauer

Trade Chris Anderson, Ross Stripling, Scott Van Slyke+cash to MIA for Marcell Ozuna

Sign Zack Greinke (5 years, $145 million)

Sign Scott Kazmir (3 years, $48 million)

Sign Darren O’Day (4 years, $32 million)

Obviously, there will be more minor moves as well. Last year, the Dodgers sent out a bunch of fliers and signed a ton of pitchers to non-guaranteed contracts, and Mike Bolsinger was really the only one that worked out. I’d expect more of that this offseason, with low risk, medium-high reward contracts being issued (Chad Billingsley, perhaps?).

In my scenario, the Dodgers roll with a platoon of Enrique Hernandez and Jose Peraza at second. That might not be ideal, so maybe bringing back Chase Utley on a cheap, short contract to back up at second, third and first could be another option. The Dodgers would also not lose any draft picks as none of my ideal signings involve anyone that turned down a qualifying offer (unless you count Greinke, in which case the Dodgers don’t necessarily lose a pick but instead just don’t get one). They would get a comp pick for losing Howie Kendrick and by failing to sign their second round pick last year, they also currently have the 36th pick. Draft picks may not be as valuable in baseball as they are in other sports, but potentially having three in the top 50 seems like a positive.

Check back in a couple days for Daniel’s dream offseason post!

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