Los Angeles Dodgers: 3 backup plans if Justin Turner signs elsewhere

Justin Turner has been one of the biggest fan favorites on the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as one of the most clutch players on the team throughout his tenure. The Dodgers may not have won the World Series this year without him, as his double play in Game 7 of the NLCS literally may have saved the season.

That has not expedited the free-agent process for Turner and the Dodgers, however. At the time of this writing, Turner is still a free agent and has several other teams expressing interest. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that the Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers and one more mystery team make up Turner’s “final four.”

The interest from the Blue Jays may have subsided, though, with the team signing Marcus Semien to help bolster the infield.

Semien was one of the reported targets that the Dodgers were considering to potentially replace Turner, as was DJ LeMahieu, but now they’re both off the board.

This makes it even more important that the Dodgers sign Turner to fill that third base/right-handed bat void. However, if Turner gets a better offer elsewhere you cannot blame him from leaving LA.

So what if Turner does leave? What should the Dodgers’ backup plan be? There are three realistic routes that I can see the Dodgers taking, however, there are some big names that I would rule out.

The big names to rule out for the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Nolan Arenado

I know that Dodger fans have this dream of Nolan Arenado coming to Los Angeles but I simply do not think it’s going to happen. Arenado’s contract is massive and it would require the team to likely trade top talent in the form of prospects in order to convince the Rockies to trade him within the division.

Andrew Friedman isn’t going to take that kind of risk when he’s got other tricks up his sleeve.

Jose Ramirez

Ramirez would be great on the Dodgers, but I highly doubt that the Indians trade him at this point. Yes, they traded Francisco Lindor, but that’s because he was due for a massive payday after this season and the Indians were not going to extend him, so they opted to get some value before he walked and in the process offloaded his $20 million salary for 2021.

Ramirez is already under contract on a really team-friendly deal with club options for 2022 and 2023. The cost here would be even more for Ramirez, and Cleveland wanted Dustin May and Gavin Lux for Lindor, according to reports, in the most recent talks.

Anyway, let’s get into the actual backup plans.

3. Marcell Ozuna

Marcell Ozuna has been a target of the Dodgers this offseason.

There are two truths that are seemingly working against the Dodgers bringing in Marcell Ozuna. The first is that, as of now, it appears there will not be a universal DH next season. The second is the fact that Ozuna is an outfielder, not a third baseman.

But there aren’t any attractive free agents available on the market to play third base for the Dodgers next season. Thus, the team could utilize its versatility to replace Turner at third by signing a right-handed bat at another position. That is what happens here with Ozuna.

The Dodgers have been connected to Ozuna earlier in the offseason and his market seems to be relatively cold. With the universal DH put off for at least one year, I would not be surprised to see Ozuna sign a one-year deal with a higher AAV before hitting the market again next offseason, when the universal DH will hopefully be instituted by the new CBA.

Ozuna is not a great defender, but the Dodgers would survive. The Dodgers are one of the best teams in the league in positioning their outfielders before every at bat. After all, it’s not like Joc Pederson or A.J. Pollock are great fielders, either. Alongside Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts, he would be just fine.

So how would this look? Ozuna could be the everyday starting left fielder. There are then two paths to take at third base.

Chris Taylor would be the team’s third baseman against left-handed pitching. Against right-handed pitching, the Dodgers would start Edwin Rios at the hot corner. They then have Pollock to potentially play center with Bellinger at first and Muncy at third if Rios is hurt/cold at the plate.

They have so many options because of their versatility. Just adding that one extra right-handed outfielder removes the need for Taylor to primarily play the outfield, adding depth at third base.

2. Kris Bryant

The Dodgers have been linked to a Kris Bryant trade for what feels like forever.

If there’s any third baseman that the Dodgers trade for, I would bet it’d be Kris Bryant, who is entering his last season of team control in 2021. It’s clear the Cubs don’t have any plans to keep him around long-term, and they’re shedding payroll this offseason, so Bryant being traded almost feels like a foregone conclusion.

This is very similar to the Mookie Betts situation last year when the Red Sox were looking to get something for the former MVP knowing they weren’t going to extend him. The chances of a Byrant extension seem to be zero, so a trade is simply a matter of if, not when.

If there’s any team that knows how to construct these kinds of trades without sacrificing too much of the farm it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers. Even better for the Dodgers, Bryant is coming off of an extremely disappointing season, which likely lowered his trade value in the process.

Bryant would not be extended like Betts and would instead be a one-year rental. In fact, I would not be shocked if the Dodgers just don’t do anything this offseason and wait until the deadline to add Bryant as they did with Manny Machado.

Regardless, the Dodgers have the farm system depth to get a deal done. The team could focus the package around Michael Busch, who is a promising player bat but is kind of redundant with the slew of left-handed bats that the team has at every level of the organization.

It all depends on the asking price, and I do not think the Dodgers will nor should trade any of their big three pitching prospects (May, Tony Gonsolin, Josiah Gray) in a deal for Bryant.