Dodgers Free Agency Update: Walker Buehler, Corbin Burnes, Jack Flaherty, Juan Soto

It's hot stove season, and the Dodgers are in a certain upper echelon of teams that will inevitably be connected to almost all of the top free agents on the market, whether or not those free agents actually make sense for them. The Dodgers, like pretty much every other team, will be looking for starting pitching this offseason, and they've already been eyed as potential landing spots for some of the best — Corbin Burnes, Roki Sasaki, Max Fried.

Although it seems like LA basically has carte blanche to go out and get whoever they want to in order to fill out the rotation, there are concerns a little closer to home that they still have to take care of.

Walker Buehler, who pitched his way back in fans' good graces during the World Series, is a free agent. Although it's been reported that the Dodgers have been in talks with him about a potential return, it'd be naive to assume that they're the only team he's in conversations with.

According to Jon Morosi, the Braves are just one of the teams that has interest in Buehler. They'll most likely be looking for Fried replacements, and despite Buehler's Fall Classic heroics, he'll probably still come relatively cheap thanks to an injury-riddled regular season in 2024.

Braves expressing interest in Walker Buehler; Corbin Burnes connected to LA again; Jack Flaherty to Angels?; Juan Soto-Mets details

Burnes gave fans a hint about where he wanted to land in free agency right after the World Series, when he retweeted MLB's celebratory Dodgers graphic with multiple eyes emojis. It only stands to reason that the Dodgers would be interested in Burnes, at the very least, as the top starter on the market outside of Sasaki. Mark Feinsand named a few landing spots for Burnes and put the Dodgers at the top of the list, citing the fact that he's a California native who's already indicated that he's at least keeping an eye on LA.

Jack Flaherty, like Buehler, is a 2024 Dodger who hit free agency again. Another California native who grew up rooting for the Dodgers, he repeatedly expressed his desire to stay in LA in free agency, but it's unclear if a reunion is in the cards. Bleacher Report predicted Flaherty would go down the street to the Angels, who pretty much always need pitching help and who would keep him in LA (kind of).

The position player of the offseason, Juan Soto, hasn't directly expressed interest in the Dodgers, and the Dodgers' involvement in the chase for him seems little to none. Jeff Passan has shot down reports that LA would be actively recruiting Soto, and recently wrote that they would only engage in the event that Soto's market softened.

Soto's market was/is never going to soften, so Soto ending up in LA is a pipe dream at best. Héctor Gómez reported that the Mets have already offered him $660 million. As a disclaimer, Gómez allegedly heard this from former player Carlos Baerga, so it's an entirely unsubstantiated claim. However, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to believe that Soto will receive that much in free agency, and it further reinforces the fact that the Dodgers are unlikely candidates if they're not willing to throw more than $600 million at him.

UPDATE, 5:00 PM PST: Well, well, well. Looks like the Dodgers are meeting with Soto on Tuesday. Interesting.