3 Dodgers players we’ll be glad are gone in 2024 and 2 we wish stayed

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When the Dodgers' 2023 season came to a whimpering close, 12 of their players were also making forays into the free agent market, giving the Dodgers a lot of ground to make up. We all know how that went; four of them (Ryan Brasier, Kiké Hernández, Jason Heyward, and Clayton Kershaw) ended up coming back, on top of all of the other dynamite acquisitions. The other eight ran the gamut in terms of star power and effectiveness for the team in 2023.

The Dodgers are in a fantastic place now, but there's always room for hindsight on players of days past who definitely won't be back in 2024. A few are worth missing, a few more couldn't have found the door faster.

3 Dodgers players we’ll be glad are gone in 2024

David Peralta

Peralta was a late free agent pickup for the Dodgers last offseason, who signed him in mid-February on a one-year, $6.5 million deal. He was more productive for the team than some; he started in left field for most of the season and batted .259/.294/.381 — not fantastic by any means, but fine enough at the bottom of the order. His 2023 free agency might've gone a little better if it weren't for the flexor tendon surgery he underwent when the season ended, which stalled him until, again, mid-February before he signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs.

Before Cody Bellinger re-signed with Chicago, we posited that if Peralta could show up big in spring training and Bellinger's contract standstill with the Cubs continued to wear on, Peralta could make a case for himself in the outfield. However, because Bellinger will be back to take up all the air in the room and the outfield, there's little hope for Peralta to climb out of Triple-A, at least at the beginning of the season.

Jake Marisnick

When Marisnick signed with the Angels in December, it marked his move to his 11th major league team, and his fourth in the calendar year. He became a free agent after the shortest possible stint with the Dodgers, who signed him to a major league deal for league minimum after he was DFA'ed by the Tigers, cleared waivers, and elected free agency instead of going back to Triple-A. He came off the Dodgers' bench a total of four times in July, going 2-for-5 at the plate, before going onto the 60-day IL with a hamstring strain.

No one would blame you if you forgot Marisnick was a Dodger at all. The two hits he got down were unremarkable, he didn't walk at all, and then he disappeared for the rest of the season and became a free agent again at the end of the year. He's currently at Angels spring training as a non-roster invitee, where he's actually hit pretty well over five games so far.

However, especially with the Dodgers' bench being as air-tight as it is now, there's less than zero reasons to miss Marisnick as a Dodger.

Amed Rosario

If we can be grateful to Rosario for anything, it's that he helped get Noah Syndergaard the hell out of LA. Just ahead of the trade deadline last year, the Guardians became the next (but not the last) in a long line of "I can fix him" candidates that wanted to take a flyer on Syndergaard (the Dodgers also had to sweeten the deal with cash), while sending Rosario the Dodgers in return. He played in less than 50 games as a stopgap at second base and was pretty okay. He hit .256/.301/.408 with three home runs and 18 RBI.

He also left in free agency at the end of the season, and with Mookie Betts permanently moving to second and Gavin Lux returning to shortstop, there was no reason to approach Rosario about a return to LA. Instead, he went to the Rays for one year and $1.5 million, where he'll presumably back up Brandon Lowe at second and Taylor Walls at shortstop.

2 Dodgers players we wish stayed in 2024

JD Martinez

If Martinez could still reliably play left field, there's a great chance that the Dodgers would've immediately grabbed him when he hit free agency after an All-Star year in LA (despite the fact that he's a Scott Boras client), and a similarly great chance that Teoscar Hernández wouldn't be a Dodger now. Martinez has always been a star, and his one-year wonder with the Dodgers, during which time he effectively endeared himself plenty to fans, only confirmed that. As primarily a DH, he had a near-.900 OPS on the year, hit 33 home runs with 103 RBI, and was the only Dodger to hit a home run in the postseason.

But, clearly, the Dodgers have no need for another full-time DH. Ohtani for Martinez might seem like an easy swap, but Martinez has been so reliably brilliant throughout his career that watching him go is still disappointing. He's been languishing in his free agency under Boras, with multiple teams interested but none locking him down yet. It seems like a guarantee that he'll be signed somewhere, but it definitely won't be with LA.

Shelby Miller

Miller was one of the Dodgers' best reclamation projects of the last few years, right up there with Evan Phillips and Ryan Brasier. A former first-round pick and starter-turned-reliever, Miller had been struggling mightily following an All-Star year with the Braves in 2015 before the Dodgers grabbed him. Over 42 innings in 2023, the most he'd pitched since 2019, he had a 1.71 ERA and was effectively closing out games for LA. However, he became a free agent at the end of the season and the Dodgers were clearly preoccupied with their pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, because Miller signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Tigers on the heels of Yamamoto's signing.

There a chance that 2023 was a brilliant fluke for Miller but, on the whole, he was one of the most effective Dodgers to hit free agency after the season and made himself worthy of being missed. It was a good get for the Tigers, who desperately needed the bullpen help at the time. The Dodgers' bullpen is also in great shape, but it's disappointing that we couldn't see him make even more progress with LA.

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