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.

Ditching Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner in heartless fashion

Thought getting rid of Hernández and Pederson was a blow the Dodgers would have a lot of trouble recovering from? What about Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger this past offseason?

Turner might've been aging and Bellinger might've been too expensive to risk another letdown season, but you probably have to keep one of these guys to sustain some continuity in the locker room. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman are no doubt commendable leaders, but the Dodgers swiftly chopped the head off the old guard that oversaw most of the franchise's modern day success.

You also might argue Bellinger and Turner were present for the 2022 meltdown against the Padres -- and you'd be right. But Bellinger dominated a year prior in the playoffs and Turner historically has been a force in October. And what were the upgrades? James Outman, a rookie? JD Martinez, another aging veteran who had just 30 postseason games under his belt and played in only nine total since 2018?

It's incredibly difficult to built a reputable and stable clubhouse, something the Dodgers had for the better part of a decade. In a matter of two offseasons, it was stripped bare.

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.