Predicting where each Dodgers free agent signs

Team Option Guys

Joe Kelly - Dodgers (via exercised team option)

This might seem pricey and unnecessary, but the Dodgers need stability, familiarity and flair in their bullpen. No more revolving doors of injury flyers, minor-league options, or over-the-hill veterans. Kelly still has it, and his $9.5 million team option for 2024 (or $1 million buyout) is not too rich for the Dodgers' blood. It's actually right in line with what they should be paying somebody as accomplished as Kelly, based on all the other lost dollars they spent on failed projects.

Max Muncy - Dodgers (via exercised team option)

Muncy is back for one more year in LA because turning down a $10 million option for a 30-homer bat would be patently insane. We love Max.

Blake Treinen - Dodgers (via declined team option and renegotiation)

The Dodgers can't help themselves. They're definitely not paying $7 million for Treinen in 2024. That team option will (we hope) be declined. But there's no way the Dodgers will get almost no production after throwing away $16 million over the last two seasons. Expect Treinen back on a lesser, one-year contract as a gentlemen's agreement after the Dodgers paid for two of his rehabs. Shake on it.

Daniel Hudson - Nationals (via declined team option)

Hudson's barely pitched for the Dodgers over the last two years, too, and his $6.5 million team option simply isn't good business for 2024. The Dodgers guaranteed his 2023 option (like Treinen's) hoping the good faith move would pay off, but it blew up in their face when Hudson suffered another injury. The Dodgers will cut him loose and he'll find a familiar home in Washington as the Nats look to get some more veterans in the door to help their young roster.

Alex Reyes - Red Sox (via declined team option)

The Dodgers burned $1.1 million on Reyes as another hopeful injury reclamation project, but what do you know? Another injury sent him back on the shelf for 2023 and they had to have learned their lesson with these decisions. Reyes carries a $3 million team option, which probably isn't worth the risk despite the high upside (he hasn't pitched since 2021). But don't worry, the Red Sox, who try to steal the Dodgers' formula at every turn, will look to save a penny and scoop him. Just watch.

Lance Lynn - Cubs (via declined team option)

Lynn has the largest option of them all -- $18 million for 2024. Once upon a time, that looked like a bargain when he was seemingly turning around his game in LA. But that changed fast after he re-cratered and eventually eliminated them from the playoffs. The Dodgers need starting pitching, but that $18 million can be spent a lot smarter -- and perhaps across two arms instead of one depreciating one.