5 free agents the Dodgers can steal from their NL West foes

Josh Hader

The Dodgers bullpen is in a weird spot after coming out of a 2023 season where they went with a high-leverage-by-committee approach. The strategy worked out great as LA led all teams in reliever fWAR at 7.6 thanks in large part to strong seasons from Brusdar Graterol, Evan Phillips, and Caleb Ferguson, all of whom are all coming back for 2024. But how great could this group be if the front office pulled a shocker and signed Josh Hader away from the Padres to anchor the bullpen?

Over the last seven seasons, Hader has established himself as one of the absolute best relievers in the game of baseball. His career 15.0 K/9 strikeout rate is just absurd, and he bounced back from a tough 2022 season with another fantastic campaign in San Diego (1.28 ERA in 61 appearances).

Hader will play most of 2024 at 30 years old and even as good he is, a three-year deal is about as far as any sane team is going to go on a reliever. However, he's probably going to get $20+ million a year wherever he ends up. Right now, the Orioles are a name that keeps coming up connected with him, in addition to the Phillies, Rangers, and incumbent Padres.

The fit for the Dodgers isn't ideal. They could certainly use an arm like Hader's in their bullpen because, well, every team could. However, Hader is going to be very expensive for a bullpen arm and the Dodgers have some lofty expectations this offseason for higher-profile needs and wants. Sure, it would be great to gobble up a guy from the Padres, but Hader could be a bit of a reach (unless they're throwing financial caution to the wind).

Michael Wacha

The final former Padres player here is another rotation arm, but one that isn't being talked about enough: Michael Wacha. Wacha's career was off to an amazing start with the Cardinals back in 2013-2015 when he logged 3.21 ERA over the span and made the All-Star team in 2015. Unfortunately, a series of nagging shoulder injuries cost him playing time, and the next several years yielded mediocre to crummy output.

That all changed in 2022 when Wacha bounced back with the Red Sox, and he continued his comeback tour with San Diego last season when he posted a 3.22 ERA in 24 starts. He doesn't throw hard and it would be nice if he kept the ball on the ground more, but his fastball and off-speed stuff still grade out very well on his Statcast page and he's really hard to square up.

Wacha doesn't come without some warts. In addition to his velo not being ideal, he really needs to stop trying to throw his cutter to lefties (they have a .469 wOBA against the pitch) and his whiff rate is only average at this point. Wacha's ability to withstand a full season's workload is an open question, and the 134.1 innings he logged last year is the most he has thrown since 2017.

While Wacha shouldn't be the centerpiece of the Dodgers offseason by any stretch of the imagination, he would be a fine complementary signing in a world where the Dodgers land a marquee name or two. His durability concerns and age will likely force him to take a one-year deal or a cheap-ish two-year contract at best. As a No. 4 or 5 starter, LA could do a hell of a lot worse that that.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Elsewhere in the division, the Diamondbacks are coming off a remarkable run to the World Series that was rather abruptly ended by the Rangers. One of the key reasons why Arizona was able to do what they did was due to the play of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who lengthened that young lineup and provided strong defense out in left field, which, as it turns out, is exactly what the Dodgers should be in the market for.

Gurriel Jr. isn't the same guy he was early on with Toronto when he was flirting with a .900 OPS, but he still puts the ball in play a ton and generally hits it hard. If he could just find a way to elevate the ball more often, he could have some more upside in the tank. Then again, as a guy who shouldn't be too cost prohibitive ($11-13 million a year for two or three years seems about right) and can hold things down in left, there's the added bonus of taking the wind out of these D-backs fans' sails.

Jakob Junis

Finally, we come to the Giants, who don't have a many free agents this year (or at least free agents that the Dodgers should even remotely consider). Reunions with Joc Pederson or Alex Wood don't make much sense at this stage of their careers, and Sean Manaea is going to cost more than he's actually worth. However, LA could add some useful bullpen depth at San Francisco's expense by scooping up Jakob Junis.

Junis' 3.87 ERA doesn't inspire a ton of confidence, but a deeper look provides more optimism. His slider is borderline elite, he misses bats, keeps the ball in the strike zone, and doesn't give up a lot of hard-hit balls. The fastball needs some work and he isn't overly deceptive, but there's a lot of clay here for the Dodgers to work with. Perhaps most importantly, he'll probably come cheap.

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