Dodgers: The Front Office is Acing the Off-Season

The Dodgers came into the offseason trying to figure out the best way to proceed after coming up one game short of a World Series title.

The Dodgers front office came into this offseason in a very peculiar spot.  They had a team that went to the World Series but came up one game shy of a World Series title.  Would they bring back the same team and try to win it all again in 2018?  That move didn’t work out for the Cubs this past season who made minimal changes to their championship roster.  There is also the 2015 Royals who made very few additions and ended up winning the World Series after losing in game seven the previous season.

The Dodgers kick-started their hot stove by trading away Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, and Charlie Culberson for Matt Kemp.  While the move seemed to be strange, and it certainly was given that the Dodgers traded away Kemp before, it was an excellent payroll shedding move.  The Dodgers’ front office essentially removed payroll obligations from this season and spread it out over the course of two seasons since Kemp is due 21.5 million for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

This was a brilliant move since it moved the Dodgers under the luxury tax threshold and allows them to reset their string of consecutive seasons above the tax threshold.  In addition to avoiding draft pick penalties the Dodgers reset so they could go over the tax threshold in the 2018-2019 off-season when there will be plenty of big names on the free agent market.  Whether they decide to pony up for someone like Bryce Harper remains to be seen, but getting under the luxury tax threshold was another genius move for Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi.

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In addition to getting under the luxury tax threshold, the front office also traded for Scott Alexander, in another stellar move. Scott Alexander is a ground ball inducing machine and posted an ERA under 2.50 in 2017.  In addition to his stellar statistics, he is also under team control for the 2018 and 2019 seasons which means he will make minimum salaries.  Alexander is not a free agent until after the 2022 season, so he provides the Dodgers with a worthy replacement for Brandon Morrow, yet at a much lower price.  The Dodgers did deal away a solid prospect in Trevor Oaks, but he was buried on the Dodgers’ starting pitcher depth chart.

What the front office will do next remains to be seen, but there is a strong likelihood that they will make another addition or two, even if it’s for depth purposes.  Left field, the bullpen, and starting pitching are areas where the Dodgers could add one more player at each spot.  There is also the possibility that the Dodgers can try to unload Matt Kemp, even if it only saves them a a couple million a season in payroll obligations.

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The front office probably won’t sign a big name like Yu Darvish unless they can clear more salary, but they could go after a starting pitcher that they can stash in the Triple-A for depth.  Regardless of what the front office chooses to do next, they already aced the off-season by getting under the luxury tax threshold, and replacing Brandon Morrow with a younger, cost effective reliever.