While you were prepping your Thanksgiving birds and quizzing your family members on which political figures to avoid mentioning, another intriguing Dodgers free agent option officially hit the market.
The Dodgers need as much pitching depth as it's possible to collect this offseason, after petering out in a postseason series where their slapdash rotation didn't even give the team hope for a rebound. Did the offense let 'em down, too? You're damn right! But a long-rumored Shohei Ohtani addition could do wonders there while doing absolutely nothing on the mound, thanks to a horrifically timed UCL tear.
LA probably doesn't have to do anything to the lineup -- you know, except for wooing the best player in the world. It's the rotation and bullpen where a few Andrew Friedman specials have to hit.
No, we don't mean "two-year deals for players who will miss 2024"; we're referring to underrated gems ready to be molded. With the 'pen in flux, too, look no further than ace Korean closer Woo-Suk Go, who was permitted to seek an MLB job next season earlier this week. The hard-throwing right-hander has whiffed 334 men in 275.1 innings over his past five seasons in KBO, is just 25 years old, and will likely be available on a three-year deal approaching ~$24 million. Bingo?
Dodgers Free Agent Target: Korean closer Woo-Suk Go
$8 million AAV is a worthy, Daniel Hudson-priced gamble. $9 million? Hey, if they have to! They're the Dodgers! $10 million? Probably our best and final offer, but it all comes down to whether the scouts who've actually watched him like the pop of his fastball and devastation of his curve as much as I do, a guy sitting here typing right now.
And look! I made it to paragraph six without mentioning the mellifluous sound of his name. That's really one you can roll around for a while without anything getting old.
Too often the past few years, the Dodgers have filled their bullpen with wild cards and also rans, only making significant financial commitments to strange names like Shelby Miller (surprisingly good) and Alex Reyes (uh, gone already). Los Angeles isn't afraid to flex their financial muscles in areas where smaller-market teams can't (and shouldn't) spend. It's high time they engineer a top-down rebuild of the pitching staff, though. At every level. Expensive aces like Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Foreign relievers like Woo-Suk Go. Bounce back candidates like Jack Flaherty. You've got an arm with some intrigue attached, you can come on down.
No, not you, Noah Syndergaard.