3 players the Dodgers should keep and 3 they should trade

The Dodgers, the first team to start rolling after the offseason when pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 9, are undeniably in good shape, and that might be an understatement. Not only have they already set themselves up as the heavy favorites to win the World Series in 2024, but they've also given fans a very clear path forward to be excited about for years to come.

However, not everyone's future can be as assured as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman's, who the Dodgers should and will hang onto for as long as humanly possible. The Dodgers' 40-man is chock-full of talent, but even with the amount of star power they already have, it doesn't mean they can't improve.

Although things look pretty set for the moment, the Dodgers might progress through the season and want to switch things up a bit, or find areas that are more in need of improvement than others. As things stand right now, here are three players that the Dodgers should keep and three they might consider trading down the line.

3 players the Dodgers should keep

Brusdar Graterol

Graterol, who has been with the Dodgers since 2020, had an incredible breakout year in 2023 after three seasons featuring some pretty middle-of-the-road performances. The Dodgers gave him the ball more than ever before in 2023; he pitched 67 1/3 innings, closed 19 games, and opened one on a bullpen day for a 1.20 ERA. He had an elite ground ball rate and velocity on his fastball, which induced a .200 batting average against in 2023.

That kind of dominance led the Dodgers to give him a $1.475 million raise to avoid arbitration this year, making him the third highest-paid member of the Dodgers bullpen after Joe Kelly and Evan Phillips at a $2.7 million grand total. Graterol isn't a free agent until the end of 2026, giving the Dodgers plenty of control and the ability to retain him cheaply. Even if his 2023 season was a bit of an outlier and he regresses a bit in 2024 (and falls victim to poor injury luck, as he has in the past), he'll be an easy arm for the team to retain and call on over the next few years if he can continue to show out.

3 players the Dodgers should trade

Austin Barnes

As far as backup catchers go, the Dodgers could do a little better than the 34-year-old Barnes. He appeared in 53 games at the backstop on Will Smith's off days or when Smith was DH'ing, and he had his worst batting year with a .180/.256/.242 line. Barnes came over to the Dodgers from the Marlins in 2014 with Kiké Hernández and Andrew Heaney, and has made all of his major league appearances with LA. 2017 was his best year by far; he played in a career-high 102 games and batted .289/.408/.486, but he took a quick downturn in 2018 and hasn't managed to get even close to those numbers again.

He signed an extension with the Dodgers for 2023-2024, with a club option worth $3.5 million for 2025. Given the team's dependence on Smith and Barnes' corresponding decline in playing time (and a powerful glut of catching prospects behind him), the easiest thing would be to keep him through the year and make a decision about picking up his option at the end of the season. However, he could also be packaged up in a trade for a perhaps younger backup catcher and a prospect or two. It doesn't seem like he'll be getting much better with the Dodgers or even have much of an opportunity to do so with Smith putting up All-Star numbers.

Ryan Yarbrough

After being traded to the Dodgers from the Royals at the deadline in 2023, Yarbrough made most of his 11 appearances out of the bullpen. He started one game and appeared in relief for the rest, for a total of 38 1/3 innings pitched and a 4.89 ERA. Now, there might be a question of where he'll fit in the roster. Most depth charts list him as a starting pitcher, and he does have a history of eating innings for the Rays (with mixed results), but it seems unlikely that he'll get more than a couple starts, if any, for the Dodgers in 2024, as they just rounded out their rotation by signing James Paxton.

The team could kick Yarbrough back to the bullpen permanently, but with the Dodgers' apparent intention to keep looking for relievers in free agency, it might be time for them to let go of him altogether. His numbers have never been fantastic, even less so when put up against those of Graterol, Phillips, and Ferguson, and he could go to another team that's in need of a starter in return for a perhaps less experienced bullpen arm and/or prospects. He'll be a free agent at the end of the season, but the Dodgers could get almost $4 million off of their payroll sooner if they deal him away, and it wouldn't irreparably damage the bullpen.

Manuel Margot

Although Tyler Glasnow headlined the Dodgers-Rays trade in December, Margot was also a solid get for the Dodgers. He has a pretty good history as a hitter and center fielder with the Rays, and he'll come in handy as the team moves Mookie Betts to second base this season. However, it's also worth noting the team is set to pay him $10 million this year, with a mutual option worth $12 million next year. He has a higher ceiling than Chris Taylor, who the Dodgers will kick back into a utility role after adding Margot and Teoscar Hernández, but he's also not the best they can do in the outfield. Post-trade rumors indicated he wasn't their top choice.

For now, especially with a shallow free agent pool, Margot will be more than serviceable, but he could be a trade piece at the deadline or before the Dodgers need to come to a decision about his option at the end of the season. With prospects like Andy Pages working through the minors and expected to land in MLB soon, the Dodgers could get Margot off of their payroll, take a chance on some homegrown talent, and get a nice return from wherever they send him, or they could free up some money to afford a free agent upgrade.