4 Dodgers facing uncertain futures heading into 2022 season

This offseason has induced plenty of stress on the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans. With so many impending free agents, they were only able to do so much before the lockout. The abbreviated timeline really hurt them with Corey Seager and Max Scherzer.

Don’t forget about Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen, either. We have no idea if either of those guys will return for 2022 and we’d bet one of them is surely gone (Jansen). If that wasn’t bad enough, apparently the Dodgers weren’t expecting to lose Seager in the fashion they did and Scherzer, before clarifying what he meant, seemingly took a shot at the Dodgers over his usage down the stretch in 2021.

Unfortunately, there’s a long road ahead for LA. They still have to sort out a lot of issues after the lockout and things don’t get any easier next offseason when they’ll be faced with a number of other tough decisions on a different group of players.

On top of having multiple guys hitting free agency, there are also a few team options the front office will have to exercise or decline, and none of them are cheap. So what does the future hold in Los Angeles? Is this current core of Dodgers baseball nearly finished as we know it?

These 3 Dodgers are facing uncertain futures heading into 2022.

4. David Price

The main reason Price is on this list is because his MLB future in general is uncertain after 2022. He’s contributed next to nothing for the Dodgers ever since coming over in the Mookie Betts trade, and he missed out on the team’s World Series run in 2020 when he opted out due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Price has pitched in just 39 games, totaling 73.2 innings, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the Dodgers sent him packing after the lockout in some sort of salary dump deal to get rid of his $16 million against the luxury tax. He was ineffective as a starter and reliever in 2021 after having pitched just 181 innings since the start of 2019. There’s no use for him and it’s evident he won’t be with the 2020 champs after this season.

We’re not saying the Red Sox “won” the Betts trade, but they were able to get an MLB-caliber outfielder (Alex Verdugo) out of it in addition to a couple of top prospects (Connor Wong and Jeter Downs) and were still able to make the ALCS in 2021 without having to pay Betts $365 million. The Dodgers got a World Series out of it, so that’s all that matters, but two years of Price at $16 million per and now Betts on the payroll through 2032 are certainly burdens of sorts.

3. AJ Pollock

When the Dodgers used their financial might to sign AJ Pollock to a four-year, $55 million contract, they took a chance in hopes he would provide a couple of healthy MVP-caliber seasons in LA. This was a former first-round pick and five-tool player we’re talking about. It wasn’t a terrible investment for how much the Dodgers can afford to spend.

However, it hasn’t really worked out. Pollock’s only “full” season over the last three years was his 55-game showing in the 60-game shortened 2020 campaign. Though his offensive numbers with the Dodgers are pretty good (.282 average, .856 OPS), his defense has taken a massive step back. He’s been a negative dWAR and DRS player since arriving in LA.

For the 2023 season, he has a $10 million player option with a $5 million buyout. If he has a decent campaign, he might be inclined to take the easy $5 million and explore free agency for one more potential multi-year contract (he’s entering his age-34 season, so the clock is ticking). It’s not like a one-year, $10 million deal is anything he can’t refuse at this point, especially if half of it is free should he turn it down.

The only way it seems reasonable for Pollock to opt in to 2023 is if he has a horrid or drastically injury-shortened campaign that would prevent him from getting much of anything on the open market. Plus, if the NL gets the DH in the new CBA, Pollock might be inclined to explore his options even if he doesn’t have an impressive season. There are a lot of variables/moving parts here, but Pollock’s future is surely a bit murky.

1. Justin Turner

We didn’t want to go there, but what other choice did we have? Justin Turner will make $20 million in 2022 and then has a $16 million team option ($2 million buyout) for 2023. He just turned in one of the best seasons of his career at age 36 when he hit .278 with an .832 OPS, 123 OPS+, 27 homers and 87 RBI.

But a brutal hamstring injury knocked him out of the postseason and we just don’t know how it’ll affect his longevity. Turner’s historically been hampered by injuries, as evidenced by the fact he’s only played in 150 or more games in a single season twice since debuting in 2009, and one of those came in 2021. Seems more like an anomaly rather than something to expect heading into his age-37 campaign.

And with all this potential roster turnover coming again next offseason, do the Dodgers really want to spend $16 million on a 38-year-old third baseman when they have top prospect Miguel Vargas climbing his way up the minor-league ladder? Again, Turner could be retained as a mentor/part-time third baseman/full-time DH, but nothing is certain with the owners and players still not having a conversation since the beginning of December.

Turner is a franchise legend through and through, but the next era of Dodgers baseball is on the horizon and it’s not too outlandish to assume he may not be part of it, especially if he endures an injury-shortened 2022 or if he doesn’t put forth another All-Star campaign. The front office did right by Turner when they paid him handsomely after the 2020 season, but there’s a reason they attached a team option for the third year of this deal.

We’re not hoping for this, but the warning signs are laid out right in front of us. This Dodgers team as we know it could have a bigger facelift than anyone could’ve imagined come 2023.

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