4 front office mistakes that have crushed Dodgers playoff hopes last two seasons

Hindsight is 20/20, yes, but any loyal Los Angele Dodgers fan can remember expressing some sort of apprehension over the years as the front office has seemingly remade this roster three times over (still, for reasons unknown).

The Dodgers had a winner. They had a bonafide contender coming off a World Series, even though it was the shortened 2020 season. But the front office gradually took steps to alter the chemistry, which has clearly shifted the balance of power.

Injuries struck at the worst time in 2021 ... but that's why you probably don't let valuable depth pieces leave in free agency despite their desire to stay, while importing a clubhouse disruption (we'll get to that soon). The 2022 season saw a historic 111-win team, but a silent offense in the postseason (as well as a shaky bullpen) was the death knell. And then there was 2023 -- a surprising 100-win roster that was devoid of depth and, again, postseason mettle.

There's always some form of roster turnover each and every year, but the magnitude in which the Dodgers have suffered since the conclusion of the 2020 season certainly has something to do with their most recent, glaring failures.

Which ones can we pinpoint as the most detrimental?

4 front office mistakes that have crushed Dodgers playoff hopes last two seasons

Signing Trevor Bauer

This is the importation of a clubhouse disruption. Bauer, regardless of his talent, was always some sort of a headache no matter where he played. Legendary manager Terry Francona had him traded, which is probably all you need to know about his character.

The Dodgers swapped two postseason stalwarts in Kiké Hernández and Joc Pederson for Bauer, who had a 4.00 ERA at the time of his signing. The Dodgers bought high on fool's gold, giving Bauer a ridiculous three-year, $102 million contract. They then allowed the right-hander to parade around and act as if he invented short-term, high AAV deals.

Bauer made 17 starts with the Dodgers before being hit with the largest non-lifetime ban in MLB history for violating the league's domestic violence policy after a number of sexual assault allegations came to light. The Dodgers were left to pay millions to Bauer despite him being inactive, and it restricted their spending elsewhere.

There was obviously no way to predict this worst-case scenario, but any front office with a shred of awareness in regard to the human element of the game probably would've been able to put 2 and 2 together.

Awful 2023 trade deadline (in retrospect)

Either Friedman tried to get too fancy or he didn't really believe in the 2023 roster's World Series chances. That's all we can deduce from the Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Amed Rosario and Kiké Hernández acquisitions before this year's deadline, especially when guys like Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery, Michael Lorenzen, Tommy Pham, Jake Burger, Mark Canha, Paul Sewald, Jordan Hicks and others were available.

There's just no possible way you can convince us the Dodgers were either out-bid on every better player or refused to meet the asking price on everybody. Friedman's deadline deals have historically been calculated, especially to minimize risk, but the 2023 roster was overachieving and proved it deserved proper supplementation. His moves were the equivalent of using scotch tape to support a wobbly shelf.

How did this work out for them? Lance Lynn ended their postseason by surrendering an MLB-record four home runs in a single inning against the Diamondbacks. Rosario was left off the NLDS roster. Hernandez went 3-for-8 and shouldn't have been a featured source of offense. Kelly logged 1.2 scoreless innings in losing efforts.

Whoops! We forgot about Ryan Yarbrough, too, who stumbled a bit in the second half and then was left off the NLDS roster.

Swap out two of these guys for real, impact deadline moves and we're probably looking at a different October result.

Letting Corey Seager (and Trea Turner go)

Want to let Corey Seager go? Fine. Something told the Dodgers he probably wasn't going to return, so they went out and got insurance in the form of Trea Turner. Great! There's your successor.

Except ... that didn't happen either. Turner, in fact, said the Dodgers didn't even reach out to him in free agency. But perhaps it should've never reached that point. Seager was the Dodgers' guy ever since he made his way up through the farm system. He was the 2020 hero that won them the World Series.

Seager's postseason track record certainly isn't flawless. He got injured during the 2017 NLCS and then stunk in the World Series. He disappeared in 2019. He went 4-for-24 in the NLCS against the Braves in 2021 when the team needed him most. Injuries affected him almost annually in LA.

But he was someone who could've lasted his career in LA on a long-term contract because his bat will always play. He's a lefty slugger that hits for average and power. If he had to move to third base eventually, so be it. If he had to become a full-time DH in six years, who cares. He helped get you to three World Series and was hitting free agency as a 27-year-old, something that rarely happens.

The cherry on top was the Dodgers silently letting Trea Turner walk to another contender -- the Phillies, who are on track for their second straight World Series berth. Seager has the Rangers up 2-0 in the ALCS against the Astros. Even the most shrewd front offices know that you cannot let two elite shortstops come and go like that.

This is obviously magnified because of Gavin Lux's injury, but even then, nothing about Lux's play proved he was going to come close to the production of either of these players. Seager was the star and culture fit while Turner was the fancy backup plan.

The Dodgers blew it with both of them. Unacceptable.