Dodgers: Speculating on front office’s 12 ‘elite’ Winter Meetings targets

Yesterday, the 2020 Winter Meetings gave us Stephen Strasburg’s record-breaking deal. Based on recent rumors, the Dodgers may be the next team in the news.

According to both Pedro Moura of the Athletic and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, the Dodgers have narrowed down their offseason plan to right around 12 potential targets. Moura tweeted that Andrew Friedman’s 12 players are “primarily elite,” while Gurnick tweeted that Friedman feels the bullpen is his most pressing need. Gurnick also mentioned that trades currently in the works will become “crystalize[d]” over the course of the week.

With those two reports in mind, the Dodgers seem to be nearing some big news for the first time this offseason. Realistically, the last big splashes the Dodgers made came via trades for Yu Darvish and Manny Machado in 2017 and 2018, with the Joe Kelly and A.J. Pollock moves of last offseason feeling peripheral in comparison to the names being mentioned this offseason.

Of those dozen players, two obvious targets are the oft-discussed Anthony Rendon and Gerrit Cole. Both of these players are superstars, and both are expected to be some of, if not the most, expensive players at their respective positions in free-agent history. This is especially true of Cole, who analysts expect will make upwards of $300 million over eight or nine seasons. With Strasburg off of the market, Cole’s price should only continue to grow, especially as other starting pitchers in the tier below him begin to be scooped up. Between Rendon and Cole, whoever signs second could very well end up getting the most money, as whichever teams fail to add the first signer will have plenty to spend on the other.

But outside of these two players, there are still plenty of other ‘elite’ options that the Dodgers are likely to be considering. In this article, I’ll identify 10 other potential targets that Friedman and the front office may consider elite, breaking things down by position. I’ll start with pitchers in general before separately heading into hitters.

Potential Pitchers for LA to Add

The Boys in Blue reportedly will be seeing a relief pitcher join the ranks at some point this offseason, and that player might even be ‘elite’. Just how many bullpen options that could garner this designation are out there though without Will Smith and Drew Pomeranz?

For starters, Dellin Betances, Will Harris, and Daniel Hudson all could be considered elite, though really, it would be a stretch for all three of them at this point. Betances is coming off of a 2019 season that was the shortest and least valuable season of his career (he only recorded two outs). But the soon to be 32-year-old certainly has the name and history to garner the ‘elite’ moniker in many circles, as he was an AL All-Star for all four seasons from 2014-2017. Harris and Hudson also have All-Star game appearances under their belts, but both are older than Betances are certainly have less upside.

The most recently elite reliever on the free-agent market is Blake Treinen, whose 2018 All-Star campaign saw him save 38 games with an 0.78 ERA and 100 strikeouts to 21 walks. Even if his numbers declined in 2019, the Dodgers don’t need a closer, they just need a shutdown arm for the late innings.

Looking beyond the bullpen, there are certainly usable starting pitchers available as well, especially ones that the Dodgers could use to eat innings if they lose both Hyun-Jin Ryu and Rich Hill and/or if they deal either Kenta Maeda or Ross Stripling. Former American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello is available and is unlikely to need more than a one-year “show me” contract from whichever team picks him up. A former first-rounder out of high school, Porcello, who will turn 31 this month, has thrown at least 172 innings in every season since 2011. While his stuff is declining, an innings eater with 40 postseason innings to his name is not someone who normally can be had for as cheap as Porcello, especially if LA and Dave Roberts only ask him to throw three or four innings a game.

With the pitching market mostly tapped out, let’s move on to hitters.