3 deals the Dodgers could get done during 2024 Winter Meetings

The MLB Winter Meetings are just days away, and thus far the Los Angeles Dodgers have been frustratingly quiet (much like everybody else) but are hopefully working on something big as to not leave Nashville empty-handed. Very little has happened on the free agent or trade market. It seems that all 30 teams (with the exception of maybe the Cardinals) are engaged in a playground standstill, all circling each other with fists up while waiting for the others to start throwing punches.

Still, the Dodgers have been "involved" on various players more so than a number of big market teams. If something big is brewing for any of them, it's probably the Dodgers, who have a lot of money and shouldn't be afraid to use it.

Last year at the Winter Meetings, they managed to keep Clayton Kershaw in LA, but lost out on all of the big pitching talent and saw Trea Turner move across the country for an absolutely ridiculous sum of money. Hopefully, that kind of passivity won't be a part of their approach this year. Here are three deals the Dodgers could get done (and probably need to get done) at Winter Meetings this year.

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Sign Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a one-two punch

At this point, anything positive you can say about Shohei Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto is just restating the obvious: two-time unanimous MVP and the most special player we've maybe ever seen, three-time Japanese Triple Crown winner in consecutive years and the most exciting international signing since the aforementioned MVP, and so on and so on. Waiting on a decision from Ohtani has rivaled, if not completely surpassed, the Aaron Judge sweepstakes last year. The Yamamoto buzz, while less intense, has also been cause for suspense. Could the Dodgers finally put all of us out of our misery by signing both of them at Winter Meetings?

Ohtani being the first domino to fall just makes sense: get him, see where you're at with money, and decide if you can afford Yamamoto as well. If you can (and the Dodgers can), you'll have acquired not only this offseason's white whale, but someone who will in turn entice an international free agent who wants to join a team with another Japanese player. While teams like the Red Sox, who are apparently out on Ohtani but still in on Yamamoto, are having to chose between one or the other, it doesn't seem like the Dodgers aren't so worried about an either/or situation.

The Dodgers have been the supposed frontrunners in the Ohtani race for a long time, and seeing as three teams are reported to have backed off, there's all the more reason to put money on LA. Meanwhile, Yamamoto was spotted in the front row at a Lakers game, fanning the flames of a potential one-two signing in the works. If the Dodgers could get both done at the Winter Meetings, they might as well just put their feet up, take a nice little break, and enjoy Nashville for a few days.

Maybe one more trade and a couple of depth signings are necessary, but the heavily lifting will be done.

Get the 2020 World Series gang back together by signing Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernández

Well, part of it, at least. The team cut Cody Bellinger loose last offseason with a non-tender, so it seems unlikely that the Dodgers could win him back, even if they got on their knees and begged. Meanwhile, the Rangers will be holding onto Corey Seager with a vice grip until 2032. All's not lost, though. Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernández are also free agents this season, and David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports believes the Dodgers are in on Pederson, while Hernández was spotted wearing Dodgers gear in a New Era ad.

The Dodgers went out of their way to bring Hernández back to LA for half-season this year after letting him go to the Red Sox in free agency after the 2020 campaign, a return that was met by enthusiasm from both Dodgers fans and Hernández himself (despite the way he was treated after winning the team a World Series). There seems to be a desire on the player's end to stay in LA, where his late-season numbers with the Dodgers looked reinvigorated after a middling front half in Boston.

Pederson, on the other hand, has seemed less inclined to give the Dodgers the time of day should they ever come knocking again, but LA really needs another lefty bat and formidable depth option. Despite some struggles in the role with the Giants this year, it's possible that a return to the team he won the World Series with could reignite something in him.