Max Fried being caught celebrating with Dodgers champs will infuriate the rest of MLB

The Dodgers have shown no indications that they're going to stop acquiring players after their $1 billion+ offseason last year. They might not spend quite that much money (though even that is TBD, given their reported interest in Juan Soto), but they'll keep building to solidify their status as an untouchable juggernaut in the league.

There's Soto, maybe Roki Sasaki, it's possible they'll re-sign Teoscar Hernández, and they need more starting pitching, with plenty of good options available on the free agent market. They could re-sign Walker Buehler or Jack Flaherty, but they could also venture out a little further.

Max Fried is one of the top three starters out there this offseason with Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell, who opted out of his contract with the Giants.

Fried has been loosely connected to the Dodgers for years now, but the Braves hung onto him. Now that multiple teams can court him, though, eyes are turning back to the Dodgers. Fried was in attendance during Jack Flaherty's World Series Game 1 start along with Lucas Giolito, both supporting their former Harvard-Westlake teammate in their hometown.

That was pretty innocent and was more of a feel-good moment for Flaherty than anything. What might raise a few eyebrows is the fact that Fried was also spotted at dinner with multiple Dodgers players in LA following their World Series parade.

Dodgers-Max Fried rumors gain traction after Fried was spotted out with LA players

Fried is widely expected to sign for six years and anywhere from $140-180 million this offseason. He's coming off of his worst season since 2019, with a 3.25 ERA this year, but it was far from terrible and he was still an All-Star this year. The lefty also mostly stayed free from injury, other than a couple weeks on the IL with forearm neuritis.

The Dodgers have said that they'll be using a six-man rotation next season. Right now, that looks like Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, along with Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw when they've recovered from their offseason surgeries. Add Sasaki and Fried to the mix, and they're full at six. That's a pretty injury-prone rotation, but the Dodgers also have a handful of rookies they can give more innings to, and if they can all stay healthy...maybe they could actually break the 2022 team's record for franchise wins in a single season.

Fried dining with some Dodgers won't magically turn into a contract, but it's definitely enough to send opposing fans into a spiral and give Dodgers fans some hope that Fried is interested, at the very least.