Dodgers prioritizing offense reveals one glaring weakness across 2025 roster

With spring training just around the corner, the Dodgers are already projected by FanGraphs to win more games than any other team and to have the highest fWAR in baseball by almost five points (53.9, up from the Braves' 49.1).

This is unsurprising given the Dodgers' offseason; they haven't acquired the most players or spent the most money, but every signing or re-signing they've made has been an impact addition.

Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernández are expected to hit a combined 169 home runs with 513 RBI per FanGraphs' Steamer projections. Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, and Michael Conforto's predicted numbers at the bottom of the lineup are nothing to sniff at either.

But one doesn't need to point to analytics for it to be clear that the Dodgers can and will mash. They already made it obvious last season, when they hit the third-most homers in the league (two behind the Orioles, four behind the Yankees) and scored the second-most runs behind the Diamondbacks.

However, for all of the Dodgers' firepower, they do have a pretty glaring weakness: their defense. Ken Rosenthal went as far as to call it their "Achilles heel" in a new column for The Athletic (subscription required).

Dodgers' defense could be their biggest weakness in 2025

"Teoscar Hernández and Michael Conforto lack range in the outfield corners. Center fielder Tommy Edman is a better infielder than outfielder. [...] Freddie Freeman remains solid at first. Hyeseong Kim figures to be at least as good as Gavin Lux was at second. Max Muncy, when healthy, is fine at third. But shortstop hinges on how much Mookie Betts improves after a full offseason and spring training trying to master the position," Rosenthal wrote, conveying the opinion of an anonymous executive.

Betts is the biggest concern here, and the Dodgers' conviction on moving him back to shortstop even with Edman on the roster is still mystifying. Neither Conforto nor Hernández could take up the spot in center, but keeping Betts in right field and not signing Conforto could've allowed the Dodgers to give James Outman another drive. They also could've installed Edman and Kim at shortstop/second and keep Betts in the outfield.

But the Dodgers are standing firm for no obviously justifiable reason. Luckily, with Edman and Kim's versatility and Miguel Rojas still expected to get some reps at short, the Dodgers will be able to pivot if they need. However, they gave Betts way too many chances there last season, so they might let this one drag out far longer than they should in 2025. If they do, that anonymous MLB executive might be right.