Projecting Dodgers’ free agent contracts after MLB Lockout ends

1. Trea Turner: 8 Years, $240 Million

OK, we’re slightly cheating here. Only slightly! We’re just claiming the Dodgers will use their remaining cash to ink Trea Turner one year ahead of schedule.

Unless they plan on radically pivoting and welcoming Carlos Correa home with open arms, this is really the only viable shortstop maneuver that’ll be available to Andrew Friedman for several seasons. So why not polish it off now before the rest of the league wakes up and realizes that?

The Dodgers’ final equivalent “free agency move” this offseason, in our eyes, will be to officially welcome Turner to the family long-term after shying away from dipping into Corey Seager’s market for a full decade. Is eight years and $280 million enough to land Turner? We won’t know for sure until after the latest CBA dictates how high teams have to go to pass the luxury tax threshold and whether competition increases or decreases. $30 million AAV for a 29-year-old who relies on speed after Seager signed for only a slightly higher AAV ($32.5 million) at a younger age (27) feels correct, though.

It also feels essential for the Dodgers, who won’t want to cross Carlos Correa’s $300 million rubicon for the next decade, especially after he spent the years 2017-2021 trashing everything that Los Angeles stands for.

We would consider paying him. We’re not sure the front office would. For now, extending Turner and making that your splash feels like a likelier move.

If the Dodgers wait until next offseason and Turner bolts after winning a bidding war between superpowers, LA’s only options will be Dansby Swanson OR Xander Bogaerts, assuming he declines his player option to reunite with Mookie Betts (unlikely). Take the sure thing now.

5 worst contracts in modern Los Angeles Dodgers history

The Los Angeles Dodgers have largely avoided huge spending gaffes, but these bad contracts have damaged their last decade.