How are members of the 2023 Dodgers doing on their new teams?

The 2024 Dodgers look, in a lot of ways, like a fantasy team, filled with so many MVPs and All-Stars that it could only exist in the imagination. Despite their early struggles, you'd be hard-pressed to find a fan who would completely overhaul these Dodgers for, say, last year's team. The 2023 Dodgers were no slouches, but they were without Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts in the best shape of his life.

Maybe we're due for a check-in on some of those 2023 Dodgers, though. While the core of the team stayed largely intact, a few notable names did move and are having some mixed results with their new teams.

How are these former Dodgers players doing with their new teams in 2024?

JD Martinez

Martinez was one of the unfortunate free agents of the Boras Five to get royally screwed over by agent Scott Boras' malpractice in their negotiations with teams. Martinez was the second to last of them to sign, agreeing to a one-year, $12 million deal with the Mets just five days before the start of the regular season. He was optioned to the minors start the year in order to make up for the time he didn't spend in spring training, and finally made his Mets debut on April 26 against the Cardinals.

He played three games in A-ball and two in Triple-A with the Syracuse Mets, where he hit .375/.375/.500 with three RBI and three hits, including a double, in eight plate appearances. Martinez will add even more power behind Mets heavy hitter Pete Alonso, and may even work as an outright replacement if/when Alonso leaves at the trade deadline.

Martinez has consistently been one of the best hitters in baseball; during his age 35 season with the Dodgers, he hit 33 homers and drove in over 100 runs. Clearly, age hasn't limited him, so there's no reason to believe it'll start to do so now. However, it's still a pity that his season was held back by a month because of some managerial misguidedness.

Amed Rosario

Rosario came over to the Dodgers at the deadline last year as part of the trade that got Noah Syndergaard out of LA and shipped him to Cleveland. Rosario was most important as a bench option to fill in at second and shortstop, which saw a host of temporary occupants throughout the year, but wasn't completely useless at the plate either; he managed to hit two triples, three homers, and drive in 18 runs in just 48 games with the Dodgers.

He left in free agency at the end of the season, and it was no surprise that the Dodgers let him walk. Gavin Lux was returning from surgery to take over at shortstop everyday, and Mookie Betts was moving to second to totally solidify the infield. (We all know how that worked out in reality, but we press on). Rosario signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Rays, which he's been making look like an absolute steal so far for Tampa Bay.

In 23 games, he's hitting .341/.349/.494 to lead the team in average and place second in OPS and RBI behind Isaac Paredes. He's tied for first in doubles and triples with José Caballero. Tampa did it again.

Caleb Ferguson

Ferguson was traded to the Yankees in February in return for Matt Gage (since released by the Dodgers) and prospects in part of a roster-clearing effort to make space for Ryan Brasier, who re-signed with the Dodgers almost immediately after Ferguson's departure was announced. His time in LA seemed to be coming to an end anyway; he pitched just over 60 innings out of the bullpen last year for a 3.43 ERA, which marked a fall from grace from his 1.82 ERA, 35-inning 2022 season.

Things haven't exactly been going swimmingly with the Yankees, either. He's pitched almost 10 innings from the bullpen for a 5.59 ERA. His most recent appearance went off without a hitch, but during the three preceding appearances, he gave up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings. Right-handed batters have been crushing his fastball, which has ended up in the upper-middle part of the zone a lot more than he's wanted it to.

Lance Lynn

Lynn has struggled a lot in the few years since his last Cy Young bid in 2021, when he pitched just under 160 innings for a 2.69 ERA with the White Sox. Injury kept his inning count down in 2022, and he was traded to the Dodgers at the deadline in 2023 along with Joe Kelly after Lynn made 21 starts for a 6.47 ERA. He wasn't able to improve much in 11 starts and 64 innings with the Dodgers, and the 16 home runs he gave up in LA, combined with the 28 he'd already given up in Chicago, made him the league leader in home runs allowed.

The Dodgers declined his 2024 option, making him a free agent, and he was quickly collected by the Cardinals as part of their starting pitcher blitz early in the offseason. In five starts for St. Louis so far, he's kept things straight for the most part and has already collected 26 strikeouts. His fastball especially looks better than it has in years, with a .162 batting average against.

It's a little too early to call what Lynn is doing a total bounce back, but if it does turn out that way, the Dodgers can't really be blamed for letting him go based on what they saw last year. Keeping him would've cost $18 million, and the Cardinals got him for $11 million guaranteed, so LA made the right call here.