4 Dodgers who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

Yency Almonte

If pretty much having your job threatened by the manager isn't enough of a tell for you, then you'll just have to wait and see how the Dodgers handle Yency Almonte when November arrives. This year, the Dodgers' bullpen was poorly constructed and was also destroyed by bad luck/injuries, so Almonte's 5.24 ERA, 4.72 FIP and 1.38 WHIP have remained safe for no other reason than the relief corps needing bodies.

The right-hander is making $1.5 million this season and will be heading into his second year of arbitration eligibility when the offseason arrives. The Dodgers can certainly make better use of that money, even if it means stomaching another Andrew Friedman low-risk, high-reward bounce-back signing. Fans don't want that, but there's no real reason the Dodgers can trust Almonte to get back on track since he's never had back-to-back productive campaigns in his career.

A simple non-tender here will do. It'll save the Dodgers money, open up a roster spot, and allow them to better deepen their bullpen, which has now been a significant weakness for two straight seasons.

Tony Gonsolin

Despite Tony Gonsolin's good baseline career numbers, he's not exactly an "eye test" guy. He also can't avoid injuries. He's also not a suitable postseason pitcher. So, if he's now regressing, then what's the use of him in the rotation beyond 2023?

Gonsolin's having a career-worst season with his 4.42 ERA, 4.87 FIP, 1.19 WHIP and 7.1 K/9. His statcast page is as bad as it gets -- he's well below average in 12 of the 14 categories on Baseball Savant. Not only has Gonsolin long faced issues with lengthening his outings, but now he can hardly get through one unscathed.

He has just two quality starts on the year (out of 18) and has allowed four or more earned runs in seven of his last nine outings. He was supposed to be propping up the pitching staff as injuries took hold and rookies made more starts. Instead, he's somehow been less effective than Michael Grove dating back to mid-June.

Gonsolin earned Super Two status years ago, meaning he will be eligible for four years of arbitration. He already covered two of those four with a contract extension in the offseason, which will pay him a guaranteed $6.65 million through 2024. At this point, if the Dodgers don't believe he'll be worth a back end rotation spot, the focus should be finding a team to take on his money for 2024, especially since he can't be non-tendered until next offseason.

Again, shedding payroll and either searching for better cost-effective options or introducing more young arms into the fold would probably be a wiser choice, since Gonsolin's failed to ever pitch a full season or come through down the stretch at any point in his career thus far.

Austin Barnes

Another small-scale extension that might burn the Dodgers is the one that was given to Austin Barnes last offseason. But the Dodgers are probably better off eating $3.5 million (if they can't find a trade partner) to find a better backup option.

Barnes is signed through 2024, but being Clayton Kershaw's good buddy will only get you so far when you're sporting a .124 average, .145 slugging percentage, and 0 OPS+ in 40 games. Nobody expected his offense to be this bad, but Barnes was always well below average. He was never a contributor with his bat. The Dodgers never really needed to spend to keep him, especially with Will Smith in the fold and a glut of catching prospects waiting in the wings. We're not sure why this was their decision.

The case could be made that Barnes' very infrequent playing time isn't helping him, but such is the life as a backup catcher. It's the job. And for Barnes to be no better than anybody out there (besides hitters that are somehow sporting negative OPS+ marks) is a telltale sign that the end of his time in LA should be coming to an end. He's been with the organization since 2015 and has logged one acceptable season, as well as a portion of a season in 2020.

If the Dodgers don't fix this very obvious and catastrophic roster deficiency, then it's worth questioning what dirt Barnes may have on the organization.