9 Dodgers players who may have lost their roster spot this offseason

Gus Varland

Gus Varland has only spent parts of one season in the major leagues after four and change in the minors, but it doesn't look very promising that he'll stick around for much longer. He's been tossed between the Dodgers and Brewers organizations both in the minors and majors. After being selected by the A's in the 2018 MLB Draft, he was traded to the Dodgers, then picked up by the Brewers in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, then was DFA'd in May, and returned to the Dodgers. He only pitched 20.1 innings with both teams and finished the year with a pretty miserable 6.64 ERA (and then knee inflammation that landed him on the 60-day IL).

Varland should be a very easy candidate for the Dodgers to shuck off the roster. He seemed to settle a bit with the Dodgers' Triple-A squad before he was called up in August, pitching 33.1 innings and logging a 2.16 ERA with an impressive 10.53 K/9. But that doesn't mean he's deserving of occupying a 40-man spot from now until the end of the 2024 season.

Michael Grove

Like Varland, Michael Grove finished out the year with an ERA over 6.00, but he saw more than three times the amount of innings Varland did at the MLB level. Grove, another young pitcher who has gone between the majors and minors over the past two years, had an OK first year in the major leagues in 2022, logging a 4.60 ERA over 29.1 innings. He started 2023 in the minors and then had a sort of dizzying back-and-forth between LA and Oklahoma City with injuries that sent him on rehab assignments. His longest stretch in the majors took place between June and July. He also got two innings of work in the postseason during the NLDS and gave up a home run to Alek Thomas after a 14-pitch at-bat.

Grove has earned the right to be a depth option for the Dodgers, whether it's as a spot starter or long relief option, but it wouldn't be surprising if he's sent away as part of a larger trade package that brings in an upgrade.