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.

3. Dansby Swanson

The Braves screwed up their 2021-22 offseason in the public eye with an historically shiny Freddie Freeman PR black eye (even if they ultimately landed on Matt Olson AND an extension, which might’ve been their preference all along).

With Alex Anthopoulos’ tears in their eyes, there’s no WAY they’re doing it again next winter.

As much fun as it is to speculate about Dansby Swanson joining his old running mate Freeman in Hollywood, the deck is stacked against the Dodgers, and Swanson is the least-likely free agent shortstop target to switch places this offseason. The Braves are well aware they need to take care of business, especially with a Georgia native and lifelong fan now in the crosshairs. One of the other organizations we’re about to discuss might not be feeling the same degree of loyalty, but the Braves? Come on. Fool us once, shame on us.

Add their current finances into the conversation, and it’s clear the Braves have plenty of wiggle room here for a long-term deal. As embarrassing as it is to say out loud, Atlanta’s chintzy long-term pacts with Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr. serve them well, here, even though both deals should’ve been voided by the United States Supreme Court. Olson’s deal is significant, but the Braves should still have plenty of room to continue this marriage.

1. Xander Bogaerts

Should the Red Sox extend Xander Bogaerts, their homegrown, all-everything shortstop who can opt out of his deal at the end of 2022, prior to his age-30 season? Yes!

Will they? Well … they seem to ascribe to the (likely correct) theory that all position-player deals ultimately turn bad. That’s right! Sometimes, though, big-market teams have to accept some ugly-looking, end-of-contract years in order to win in the here and now. It seems very possible that the Red Sox are instead going to choose to navigate the waters without Bogaerts, move Trevor Story to shortstop, and maybe extend Rafael Devers instead. Or maybe they extend no one! Liverpool’s stadium needs a new stained-glass window, after all.

Bogaerts is being treated by Boston like he’s 34 and lagging. Instead, he’s peaking and still playing a passable shortstop. As of Thursday, June 30, he’s accrued 3.0 WAR, is triple-slashing .326/.397/.469 — that’s a 140 OPS+, higher than Turner — and he’s coming off four straight top-20 finishes in the MVP race.

Intangibles? He has them in spades, and we’ve seen them for years. Just ask Mookie Betts, the most recent Red Sox superstar who found greener pastures on the other coast, where Andrew Friedman is successfully running the big market hybrid model. In other words, he’s practicing what the Red Sox always preach until the bill’s due.

If the time comes where he officially outgrows shortstop, maybe that’s the moment he slides to second and Lux mans short. Until that time, Bogaerts would be the ideal option for the 2023 Dodgers, and he’ll be available for a little bit less money than Turner and possibly one fewer year of commitment.

3 high-priced Dodgers who could get the axe after terrible 2022 starts

These Los Angeles Dodgers players have been really bad in the early going of 2022 and it could force the team to make tough decisions in the offseason.