Should Dodgers let Chris Taylor walk for Zach McKinstry?

Following their drought-breaking World Series title, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ roster calculus told them they could maximize their finances by allowing key utility men Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernández to seek lucrative new contracts elsewhere.

So far, so good — even though both men are performing solidly in their new homes of Boston and Chicago, so are the Dodgers, a team that had more than enough depth to weather an early-season cold snap.

In the bullpen? Barely. Across the diamond? Definitely.

Once 2021 ends, though, the Dodgers’ front office will have to make a very similar decision once more, this time with a player who’s currently in the midst of his best season.

When the season began, it seemed obvious the team would pursue the same strategy with 30-year-old Chris Taylor, a Swiss Army knife who’s hit his ceiling and surpassed it, but whose decline the team would likely bet on.

However, now that Taylor’s in the midst of his best season yet, and presumed backup option Zach McKinstry has spent most of the year on the IL (after excelling in his first taste of MLB action), will the Dodgers move forward with that plan?

Will the Dodgers still let Chris Taylor walk after 2021?

Prior to 2021, Taylor was a jack of all trades with a solid bat who had never posted an OPS+ higher in a full, non-60-game season than he did in his first full year in LA in 2017 (123). He was a proven playoff performer, torturing the Cubs and Brewers in the 2017 and 2018 NLCS, respectively.

This year, though, he’s quite possibly been the most essential offensive player on the Dodgers roster, without Pederson, Hernández and Cody Bellinger for the vast majority of the campaign.

Thus far, he’s slashed .285/.411/.486 while leading the National League in runs scored for a team that’s had to fend off valleys amid all its peaks. Never before has a steadying force at multiple positions been more welcome.

Are the Dodgers prepared to let that stability walk in the offseason, even though the multi-year deal Taylor eventually earns will probably not be for top dollar? LA can do without Pederson and Hernández, but neither earned Swarovski prices — Joc went for $7 million on a one-year deal with an option, and Kiké is making the same annual total over a guaranteed two years.

In an already-depressed market and entering negotiations for a new CBA, will Taylor really surpass that? And will he really receive more security than, say, three years? Has McKinstry and Co. shown you enough that you’d be willing to lose what Taylor provides over $7-8 million? This team has ver few weaknesses. Why create one?

The Dodgers survived the departures of Pederson and Hernández largely because they did have Taylor in place, ready to contribute wherever he was asked to.

McKinstry will someday likely be a very important piece on this team, too, but the 25-year-old still has a ways to go — and, besides, only played in 17 games before falling by the wayside this year. The Chippewa’s bat is potent already, as evidenced by his .296 mark with three homers and five doubles. However, we have zero evidence of his non-jangled nerves in the postseason, and the patience doesn’t approach Taylor’s level; his OBP is just .328 in limited big-league action.

There’s a chance that someday McKinstry will be able to fill the roving outfield role full time with the Dodgers, but if that day comes to pass, he’ll be doing it in a much different way than Taylor ever has.

At the going rate for a 30-year-old free agent’s services, it looks like the Dodgers will be better off re-upping with Taylor, who’s proven time and again this year why he’s essential.

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