Los Angeles Dodgers bargain lineup of the last decade

The Dodgers are always known to be one of the biggest spenders in baseball but over the last decade, they have had plenty of players who provided big contributions for little cost.

The Dodgers are always thought of as one of the biggest spending teams in baseball and they are often accused of trying to “buy” a championship.  While that used to be the case, the Dodgers have turned into a more financially conscious team since Andrew Friedman took over and they have yet to sign a player to a record-breaking contract.  The team did make a run at Gerrit Cole but ultimately came up short.

Over the last decade, the Dodgers have had high priced players but they have received big-time contributions from players who were not making massive amounts of money.  While the team has not turned into the Oakland Athletics or Tampa Bay Rays, they have found ways to find talent on the cheap.  These are the players at each position that were the biggest bargain of the last decade that were not Dodger prospects

Best bargains of the last decade: Outfield

Outfield: Enrique Hernandez ($3.1 mil combined from 2015-2018)

While Hernandez is expected to get a nice raise and make around $5.5 million for the 2020 season he has been a big bargain for the Dodgers over the last few seasons.  Enrique was acquired with Chris Hatcher and Austin Barnes in the Dee Gordon trade.  All Hernandez has done is become a valuable utility player and he will forever be remembered for hitting three home runs to help eliminate the Cubs in the 2017 NLCS.

Outfield: Yasiel Puig (7 years $42 million dollar contract)

Yasiel Puig was a big international signing for the Dodgers but in the end, he ended up a bargain for the thrills he provided in Los Angeles.  From his rocket arm to his majestic bat flips, Yasiel Puig was one of the most interesting players of the decade for the Dodgers.  Few players could get Dodger Stadium going like the Wild Horse could.

Outfield: Andrew Toles ($1.4 mil combined from 2016-2019)

Since this article is leaving out Dodger prospects, there really isn’t another non-prospect player that was a big bargain for the Dodgers this decade.  Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Cody Bellinger, and Joc Pederson are among the Dodger prospects that turned into regulars in the outfield.  Along with high priced contracts like A.J. Pollock and Carl Crawford, the Dodgers haven’t had too many bargains in the outfield this decade.

One player who comes to mind is Andrew Toles who was very good and came at a very cheap price as the Dodgers took a flier on him when he wasn’t even in the league.  Toles has been away from the Dodgers and may not ever come back but here’s hoping that Andrew is able to get over whatever is troubling him and make a successful return to baseball.  Toles has put together an OPS of .792 over parts of three seasons with the Dodgers.

Best bargains of the last decade: Starting pitcher and reliever

Starting pitcher: Alex Wood (2.8 mil in 2017 breakout season)

Alex Wood was acquired by the Dodgers in one of the most awkward deals of the decade in which the Dodgers took on the contract of Bronson Arroyo who never threw a pitch for them.  LA also managed to ship out international signing Hector Olivera who later got into legal trouble.  Wood thrived in Los Angeles and went 16-3 in 2017 and pitched one of the Dodgers’ best postseason games ever no-hitting the Astros through 5 2/3 innings in the World Series.

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.Looking back now at the 2017 World Series and the cheating allegations that have come out against the Astros, that is now an even greater performance by Alex Wood.  The changeup was one of Wood’s best pitches in Los Angeles and the Astros’ batters seemed to alert each other when a changeup was coming.  Wood is now a free agent coming off an injury-plagued season and could be another bargain for whoever picks him up next season.

Reliever: Brandon Morrow ($1.2 mil in 2017)

The other biggest bargain of the decade for pitchers was Brandon Morrow who signed for just $1.2 million in 2017.  All Morrow did was become an integral part of the Dodgers’ World Series bullpen and pitch to an ERA of 2.06 while holding the opposition to a .194 average.  Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Morrow seemed to burn out in the World Series as he was used in every single game of the World Series.

Morrow parlayed his strong 2017 campaign into a two-year contract with the Chicago Cubs where he was injured and unable to replicate his success from Los Angeles.  While the Dodgers missed Morrow in 2018 and 2019, they did the wise thing by letting him move on as he has always been injury-prone and that continued to be the case in Chicago.

If Dodger prospects were included in this article then the bargain lineup and pitching staff would be made up of Dodger prospects but leaving them out this was a much tougher lineup to put together.  Who would make up your bargain lineup of the decade? Comment below!