Projecting Los Angeles Dodgers’ Opening Day roster for 2022

Dodgers Outfield (4)

• Mookie Betts
• Cody Bellinger
• AJ Pollock
• Chris Taylor

Sorry, Matt Beaty. You’ll be up soon enough. We’re banking on Rios being available for Opening Day and being able to float between third base and left field.

This picture is fairly simplistic, especially after CT3 was retained (four years, $60 million) and Bellinger’s arbitration year was settled before the fight at $17 million, a $900,000 raise after his abysmal 2022 season.

There isn’t much to worry about here — other than Bellinger reaching his typical benchmarks after an injury-marred season that also saw him finish a win-and-a-half below what a theoretical replacement player would’ve put up during his starts.

And believe us, we saw a lot of replacement players in the 2021 Dodgers outfield.

Prospects, Quad-A talent, and veterans looking for a last shot — from Beaty to Zach McKinstry to a Yoshi Tsutsugo type — will all show up throughout the year when Pollock inevitably goes down or Taylor needs to shift to second base on a semi-permanent basis while Trea Turner moves back to short.

When Opening Day rolls around, though, we foresee the outfield being the only region that looks strikingly similar to the Dodgers roster we’ve always known.

3 players who can still return to Dodgers after lockout

The Los Angeles Dodgers can still retain a number of important players after the lockout, so don't lose hope yet. There's plenty of time.