Former NL West rival basically begging to join Dodgers in free agency

Although most of the conversation surrounding free agency this offseason is going to revolve around Juan Soto, Roki Sasaki, Corbin Burnes, and so on, not everyone on the market is going to have suitors lining up to make pitches to them. Those guys will have teams crawling after them, while others are going to have to make cases for themselves.

Paul Sewald, who pitched to a 4.31 ERA in just under 40 innings as the Diamondbacks' closer this year, is probably in the latter camp. He started the season hurt and didn't pitch until May, and then he went back onto the IL for the last two weeks of the year. Through 2022 and most of 2023 as a Mariner, he looked like he had the goods to be a pretty decent, mid-tier late-innings guy or closer, but his performance dropped off after he was traded to Arizona. He was even demoted from the closer role in August.

Naturally, he went onto Foul Territory to make what felt like an elevator pitch for himself in his free agency after a bum year. He mentioned the Dodgers multiple times and went as far as to say he would be willing to move off of a closer role if a team (basically just the Dodgers) wanted him to.

He said, "I've closed out the NLCS to go to the World Series. I've done it almost at the very top. [...] I just need to make sure I'm somewhere I'm going to be the best version of myself. [...] If it's LA, they have lots of closers, lots of people get a chance in the ninth inning. If it's Evan Phillips, if it's Michael Kopech, if it's me, I'll take that into consideration."

Former Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald made it clear he wants to join the Dodgers in free agency

Alright, dude. You were talking to AJ Pierzynski, not Andrew Friedman or Brandon Gomes. An appearance on Foul Territory isn't a job interview.

No reports have come out saying that the Dodgers are even remotely interested in Sewald, and although a lot of conversations can be and are held behind the scenes (and the Dodgers do like themselves a fixer-upper like Sewald), it's more likely that they'll be chasing after Blake Treinen, who also hit free agency after the World Series, and will maybe fill out the rest of the bullpen with a few of their many rookie pitchers.

Neither of the show's hosts had to even mention the Dodgers — Sewald was just begging to make his case directly to them any way he could. You sort of have to hand it to the guy; he saw an opportunity and took it. But he shouldn't be too surprised if the Dodgers thank him for his interest and move onto more reliable options.