December 11th, 2019 at 10:00 am 
by 0799291000348 Sometimes we Dodgers fans get caught up in the pursuit of high profile free agent players like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado in 2018. This Hot Stove season starting pitcher Gerrit Cole was the near-unanimous choice of fans and baseball analysts as the prized free agent to be pursued by any team wanting to guarantee the 2020 World Series championship. Cole is now a New York Yankee after signing an outrageous nine-year/$324 million contract on Tuesday night. And the Washington Nationals completely lost their minds by re-signing very good (but not great) starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg for an obscene seven-year/$245 million.
Some Dodgers fans will be distraught, if not downright angry, that the team did not outspend either the Yankees or Nationals to sign one of the two pitchers, regardless of the cost. Fortunately, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman does not get caught up in fan hysteria and doesn’t take his eye-off-the-ball in the team’s priorities.
Don’t misunderstand, either Cole or Strasburg would have been terrific additions to the Dodgers 2020 starting rotation in place of departing free agent Hyun-Jin Ryu. There is no doubt that Friedman considered both pitchers, but he was not going to deviate from the team’s plans, including the value they place on every player they may pursue. The Dodgers priorities have not changed: fix the bullpen; complete the starting rotation; balance the offense by acquiring a right-handed power hitter … and control the payroll.
The Dodgers roster depth, flexibility, and outstanding prospect pipeline place them in the enviable position to pursue various options to strengthen the roster for the 2020 regular and postseasons. Whether it be relievers like Ken Giles, Brad Hand, Rasiel Iglesias, Aaron Bummer, Josh Hader, etc., starting pitchers Ryu, Madison Bumgarner, Corey Kluber, etc., and right-handed bats like Anthony Rendon, Josh Donaldson, Nick Castellanos, Mitch Haniger, Trey Mancini, etc., the Dodgers are well positioned to win the NL West for an eighth consecutive season and be a legit contender for the 2020 World Series.
Remember that we have a team that won 106 regular-season games in 2019 that will have a healthy Corey Seager at shortstop, catcher Will Smith, second baseman Gavin Lux, outfielder Alex Verdugo, and pitchers Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin for all of 2020, and young catcher Keibert Ruiz down on the farm and likely ready to contribute around the 2020 All-Star break.
Patience, Dodgers fans.
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“Patience, Dodgers fans.”
1989…1990…1991….1992….1993….1994…
Good one! But yes, patience may take a long time — just ask Seattle Mariner fans who have never been to the World Series, or those of the Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays who have never won the World Series, or the fans of the Chicago Cub, and Boston Red Sox on how long they waited for a Championship.
But weren’t the Rockies, Brewers, Padres, Rangers or Rays, we’re the freaking LA DODGERS, a storied franchise with very deep pockets. Would be nice to see the Dodgers exercise that financial muscle and sink the hook into a big fish.
Would Cole guarantee a WS title?…………no, but he sure would look good going to the mound every five days and completely dominate the competition.
The name has always remained “Dodgers” but this was a broken franchise from the time that Fox entertainment bought the team in 1997, followed by the disastrous ownership of Frank McCourt. That 15 year period took the franchise to lows that fans should never forget. Guggenheim Baseball Partners purchased the team in 2012 and immediately began the long road of rebuilding the major league roster, international scouting, farm system to preeminence expected of THE DODGERS. Yes, the Dodgers have yet to win a World Series, but the team has been there twice in the last 3 seasons; and, getting to the World Series at all is a significant accomplishment. Considering the crap-shoot of post season play where the best team seldom wins the championship, having a team get to post season is worthy of fans appreciation.
another excellent article Jesse.
people seem to ignore all of the long term contracts that go bad (most of them)or the fact that last winters contracts for harper, machado, arenado, and trout resulted in 3 4th place finishes and a 5th. three of those 4 teams lost 90+ games and none had a winning record. the Dodgers spread their payroll around in a way that won 106 games. just because they dont have to pay buehler and bellinger $35M doesnt mean they arent two of the best in the game.
Jesse spot on. I would love to see us add a quality starting pitcher, a solid right bat and some relief help.
With all of the talk about our starting pitching we were 6 out away from beating the eventual World Champs and would have done so if we had a quality arm in the pen.
Maeda will be moved for sure and possibly Joc P but only if we are filling a need.
I’d like to see us work a deal with Cleveland. Clevinger and Hand for Maeda, Stripling, Joc and either Santana or Mitchell White, maybe both. Maybe we’d have to take another player from their 40 man so they had roster space for all these players.
I know, it looks like we’re just getting rid of guys we can do without, I really don’t know what Cleveland needs so this would be a generous starting point.
Cleveland and Dodgers seem to align well as trade partners, although I think Clevinger is pretty much untouchable at this point in his Indians career. Cleveland wants to get rid of payroll with Corey Kluber’s $18M contract apparently at the top of the list. From various reports, the Indians need a couple of outfielders, middle infielder help, and a young first baseman. Talk of a blockbuster for Francisco Lindor will not go away, but the cost will be huge.
I agree it would be hard to convince Cleveland to trade Clevinger, but that’s the kind of deal that would give us the quality starter we need. If they could get rid of Lindor, replace him and Clevinger with Seager, Maeda and Stripling, get a middle infielder (Kike or Taylor) plus an outfielder (Joc), plus some minor leaguers to help a rebuild AND cash, they’d have to think about that.
Well the Dodgers stove just got turned on.
Good signing to start handling one of those priorities, the bullpen. Dodgers sign Blake Treinen for one year $10M. This is a guy I wanted to see Dodgers get. He had a monster/historic 2018 season and could be great for us.
Good commonsense, low-risk signing. Dodgers can make 32 of these type signings over the next 9 years with the savings from missing out on Cole.
Hope they got an option on 2021.
I was hoping for the same player, although I thought the contract would be for less money. Only way Dodgers pay that much is that they already know what his problem was last season and that it can be easily fixed. Definitely worth the one year deal that could be a bridge to relievers like de Geus, Kasowski, White, Grove, etc.
I read Treinen was highly sought after, therefore the slight overpay. Happily, we are only literally talking a couple million, not tens of millions.
I’d still like to see the Dodgers trade for another bullpen stud and a right-handed bat. Do that and either resign Ryu or sign the Snot Rocket and we are set.
I’m going to enjoy watching our young talented starters next year. Add another stud reliever and the starters won’t have to pitch very deep into games. Getting Treinen was potentially HUGE.