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3 Dodgers who don’t deserve to be on 2023 40-man roster

By Jason Reed |
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The Los Angeles Dodgers did not have that ambitious of an offseason as the team is welcoming various young players into the fold. As a result, Dodgers fans had to cope with the reality that several fan favorites left LA.

This change also makes the 40-man roster more fluid than it's been in recent years. Typically, at this point, there aren't many changes that could be made to the 40-man roster as everything would be squared away. That's not the case in 2023, as there are several players currently on the 40-man that might not be there by the end of Spring Training.

3 Dodgers who don't deserve to be on the 2023 40-man roster

3. Shelby Miller

The Dodgers are the best team in the league at signing broken pitchers and making them right again. Andrew Friedman has taken on perhaps his biggest challenge yet as the team signed 32-year-old Shelby Miller, who has a 7.02 ERA in 202.2 combined innings since 2016.

If the Dodgers were to pull off this reclamation project, it would be their best one yet. The confusing part of the signing, though, is the fact that the team signed Miller to a big-league deal that puts him on the 40-man roster.

This was not a Jason Heyward situation in which Miller would sign a MiLB deal to try and work out his stuff in spring training or AAA. This is a pitcher who the Dodgers project to potentially make the Opening Day roster in 2023.

Look, we are firm believers in everything that Friedman does, especially with this coaching staff, but Miller has to be where Dodgers fans draw the line. Signing him to the 40-man roster was a risky decision and it may not last very long.

2. Yonny Hernandez

The construction of the 40-man roster really is an art that MLB teams have to learn how to master. There are the obvious members of the 40-man, then there are the AAA replacement-level players that have to bounce up and down when there is a need (looking at you, Edwin Rios).

Then there are the prospects that could come up to help in the case of an injury (think Ryan Pepiot). To wrap it up, there are the younger prospects who are not quite big-league ready, but need to be protected in the Rule 5 Draft (this year being Diego Cartaya and Jonny DeLuca).

Every once in a while, there's a player on the 40-man roster who simply does not make a lot of sense. This year, that player for the Dodgers is Yonny Hernandez. Never heard of Mr. Hernandez? I don't blame you. It's not like he was a highly-touted prospect coming up through the Dodgers system.

Hernandez is a switch-hitting infielder who has very limited big-league experience. He has played 55 combined games for the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks and is sporting a .198 batting average and .521 OPS.

He was never considered to be a top prospect and his minor-league numbers aren't great either. Hernandez has played 531 games in the minors and has a .712 OPS with five home runs. The one thing Hernandez brings is speed, but everything else is so poor it's hard to justify his spot on the 40-man.

1. Daniel Hudson

This inclusion might be surprising because, at his best, Daniel Hudson is a better option than a number of other players that the Dodgers have on the 40-man. Most Dodgers fans would trust Hudson in a do-or-die spot over someone like Andre Jackson, who really struggled in the minors last season.

However, Hudson not belonging on the 40-man roster has more so to do with the macro situation of the Dodgers. LA is going to eek over the luxury tax threshold for the 2023 season with Friedman confirming that the team is not expecting to go under the $233 million mark.

This makes no sense because the Dodgers could reasonably get under the threshold, based on current projections, without sacrificing much. By doing so, the team would reset its luxury tax penalty and would avoid paying 50% on all dollars above the mark next year if they were to go big for someone like Shohei Ohtani.

Plus, if you're going to go over the tax, then go over the tax. Don't pinch pennies like a small-market team only to land just barely over it. How does that financial approach make any sense?

One way to get under is to trade Hudson, and the Dodgers could easily do so. The right-hander has enough value that some team would be willing to take him in for a player to be named later. This would squeeze the Dodgers right under the threshold, as they would free up $7 million.

Why the team decided to accept the option for a reliever who tore his ACL is confusing, especially when there's so much young talent in this organization that probably would pitch better than Hudson eventually (or even immediately).

Hudson really shouldn't be on the Dodgers 40-man roster. But since he is right now, he likely is not going anywhere (unless he lands on the 60-day IL so the Dodgers can pay him to sit at home).

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