Jim Bowden's Dodgers glazing reaches new heights with questionable 'most improved' label

The Los Angeles Dodgers are usually one of the most active teams in Major League Baseball every offseason, but save for their blockbuster acquisition of closer Edwin Díaz, they've mostly been in a catatonic state since winning their second consecutive World Series.

Mind you, getting Díaz was a huge deal, as the three-time All-Star patches a huge hole at the back of the Dodgers' bullpen. His 1.63 ERA and 38% strikeout rate will look mighty fine in the ninth inning while closing out masterpieces from Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Still, when that's your only notable addition of the offseason (unless you count re-signing World Series hero Miguel Rojas), you hardly qualify as one of the "most-improved teams" in baseball.

Well, you shouldn't qualify as such. But luckily for the Dodgers, when Jim Bowden is the man doing the rankings, they'll find themselves high up on any list.

Dodgers receive generous ranking as sixth-most-improved MLB team this offseason

In Bowden's list for The Athletic, he ranked the Dodgers as the sixth most-improved MLB team, right between the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals.

The definition of "most improved" is always difficult to explain; the Orioles and Pirates ranked atop Bowden's list, mostly because they finished last in their respective divisions last year. They have more upward mobility than the reigning champs, which should make it even harder for the Dodgers to emerge from the offseason as tangibly improved. As Bowden puts it: "They were the best team in baseball if they didn’t make any moves."

Now, it's also true that they haven't lost much talent; the only free agent from last year's roster who has signed with another team is Kirby Yates, and he was generally a mess in his lone season in Los Angeles. Upgrading on Yates with Diaz is certainly a massive improvement.

But considering that Los Angeles has yet to adress their corner outfield situation or add anyone of note besides the former Mets closer, this offseason doesn't feel like quite the step up that previous efforts were, when the team brought in players like Snell, Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, and Tyler Glasnow.

Again, it's not like the Dodgers needed to do much of anything this offseason. They'll be ranked atop just about every outlet's power rankings come Opening Day, a deserved distinction after lifting back-to-back Commissioner's trophies. But to call them anything more than "somewhat improved" feels like a slap in the face to other teams that have been far more aggressive in trades and free agency this winter.

There's still time for LA to earn the praise that's been handed to them, but for now, this is just another case of Bowden being Bowden.