4 offseason decisions the Dodgers already need to be thinking about

Part With Two of Austin Barnes, Tony Gonsolin, Miguel Rojas and Yency Almonte?

The Dodgers have performed admirably in spite of a number of players failing to pull their own weight. Miguel Vargas got demoted. Trayce Thompson got traded. Victor González and Alex Vesia have been optioned. Noah Syndergaard was shown the door. But a number of struggling names have remained.

Three that come to mind are Austin Barnes (the hero on Thursday!), Miguel Rojas and Tony Gonsolin. And if the Dodgers want to improve year over year, two of those three absolutely need to go, without question.

Barnes' defense has slipped and he's hitting .136 with a .392 OPS and 8 (EIGHT) OPS+. The Dodgers can very easily improve the backup catcher position by snapping their fingers. Rojas, whle his defense has been good, is a black hole on offense, too. He's hitting .220 with a .571 OPS and 55 OPS+. Gonsolin, for as good as he's been in previous years, has failed to take the next step and has quickly turned into a liability in the rotation even though his 4.24 ERA, 4.78 FIP and 1.14 WHIP don't exactly suggest that. He's largely injury prone and can't be trusted in high-leverage outings. He shouldn't be a roster casualty like the other two, but the Dodgers should at least work to find a trade partner and move forward with somebody else who can offer a bit of a better long-term roadmap, because Gonsolin will be entering his age-30 season without having made more than 25 starts in a single campaign.

Barnes is making $3.5 million in 2024. Rojas is making $6.75. Gonsolin will earn $3.4 million. Freeing up anywhere between $7-$10 million will go a long way for the Dodgers in an offseason they already prepared to be financially flexible for.

A couple extra bucks can get them somebody who can out-produce that trio, without a doubt.