Power ranking Dodgers’ 4 shortstop options for 2023

The Los Angeles Dodgers are still in need of a shortstop of the future, and have been ever since the 2021-22 offseason ended with the decision kicked further down the line. It was long assumed that Corey Seager would be the be all/end all/matinee idol in Hollywood for his entire career, but after the team pivoted to Trea Turner and an awkward fit at second base at the 2021 deadline, it was clear Andrew Friedman might be considering alternatives.

Add in the lack of an extension for Turner, and it’s now even clearer that Friedman has yet to make a decision on the position. Luckily for him and the team’s brass, next offseason will be nearly as fertile for shortstops as the previous one was.

So, who’s likeliest to be a Dodger when the dust settles?

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Dodgers staying out of last year’s shortstop cycle does not mean they avoided the elephant in the room; Carlos Correa’s deal with the Twins includes an opt-out after 2022, and considering his performance thus far, he’s very likely to test the waters again. After all, the competition didn’t scare him out of the market and into a below-market Astros extension last time, did it?

Correa’s got a spot firmly reserved on this list, though, at No. 5 — a nonexistent space, placed below the four options actually presented. Correa is a long-term expenditure waiting to happen, and he’ll need a landing spot with absolutely no leftover Astros residue involved. The Dodgers have enough on their plates for the foreseeable future; Juan Soto, for example. There will always be another superstar waiting in the wings to be a Dodger. They can freely let Correa walk to the Orioles or Cubs, in this instance.

As for the other four options, here’s how things currently line up.

Power ranking Dodgers’ 4 shortstop options for 2023

4. Gavin Lux/The Shrine of the Internals

With all due respect to Wilman Diaz or Jacob Amaya, the Dodgers will not be ready to hand their reins to a young shortstop in 2023. They are also extremely unlikely to target someone else’s stopgap.

Gavin Lux knows all too well how difficult it is for a prospect, even the highest-rated in the system or the league, to break into the Dodgers’ megalith. Time and again, established star power will reign supreme over ambition and potential. After all, this is the ’90s Yankees of the West Coast. Every season is a championship season, whether it ends in triumph or regret. Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer found themselves discarded rather quickly from that juggernaut, too.

Lux is lucky he’s stuck around this long, and he’s proving with his breakout 2022 campaign that there will certainly be starters’ reps available to him next year … finally. He’s now joined the club.

But they’ll more than likely come at second base. The shortstop market is too fertile, yet again, for LA to try to jam Lux there on a regular basis. Sorry, kid.