3 Dodgers team options for 2023 fans may have forgotten about

1. Jimmy Nelson

Forget about this guy?! Friedman continued his trend of signing injured pitchers, having them rehab with the team, and ensuring they’d stay for the following year. Really, a shrewd way to pay a little to potentially get a lot more.

Nelson underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2021, and not long after the Dodgers re-signed him to a one year, $700K deal with a $1.1 million team option for the 2023 season. 

Nelson, like Duffy, will be entering his age-34 season and has only pitched in a grand total of 67 games since the start of 2017. However, he was a reliable and valuable bullpen piece for the Dodgers in 2021. He appeared in 28 games (29 innings) and finished with a 1.86 ERA, 1.89 FIP, 0.93 WHIP and 44 strikeouts.

The Dodgers had him emphasize his curveball, which worked wonders. The right-hander finished that year in the 99th percentile for fastball since and the 94th percentile for curveball spin. Opponents had a .139 expected batting average and .198 expected slugging percentage against him.

Reconstructive elbow surgery this late in the game is tough — on top of the fact Nelson is no stranger to injuries derailing his career — but he could potentially save the Dodgers a ton of money if he’s even a semblance of his 2021 self at just $1.1 million.

Really feels like we’ll see Alberto and Nelson back, since that’ll be two players costing a grand total of $3.1 million. Not going to find much better value than that.

3 Dodgers who should’ve been trusted more in 2022 NLDS loss vs Padres

The Dodgers fell short in the 2022 NLDS, which is absurd when you consider that Dave Roberts did not show enough faith in these players.