January 22nd, 2026 at 7:00 am 
by Jesse Pearce On a cold, winter morning, thoughts turn to the Dodgers and the current roster – in no particular order:
Pitching
MLB rules restrict teams to a maximum of 13 pitchers on the active roster (two-way players do not count as pitchers). Currently, the team has 10 veteran pitchers who cannot be optioned to the minors (alpha order): Anthony Banda, Edwin Diaz, Tyler Glasnow, Brusdar Graterol, Tanner Scott, Blake Snell, Brock Stewart, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
(Imagin Images)
There are currently eight, young, talented pitchers with roster experience who will be competing for remaining spots: Ben Casparius, Jack Dreyer, Will Klein, River Ryan, Roki Sasaki, Emmett Sheehan, Gavin Stone, and Justin Wrobleski.
Off-season shoulder surgery will likely keep Stewart on the IL for the entire 2026 season. Ryan, and Stone may begin the season on the IL as they recover from their respective surgeries, rebuilding arm strength as they return to competitive pitching.
Based on 2025 regular and postseason performance, Casparius, Dreyer, Klein, Sasaki, Sheehan, and Wrobleski are pretty much a lock to make the Dodgers Opening Day roster.
Position Players
The Dodgers lineup (Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Max Muncy, Andy Pages, Will Smith, Kyle Tucker), and two-way player (Shohei Ohtani) give the 2026 Dodgers one of the most formidable in the 169-year history of Major League Baseball. Barring significant injury, this lineup could exceed the modern day record for runs scored by a team during regular season – 1,067 by the 1931 New York Yankees.
conference on Monday. (ESPN)
The backup catcher (Dalton Rushing), and two veteran utility players (Andy Ibáñez and Miguel Rojas), leaves room for only one additional player on the roster – two if Edman’s recent ankle surgery places him on the IL at the beginning of the season. Outfielders Alex Call and Ryan Ward, infielders Alex Freeland, and Hyeseong Kim will compete in Spring Training for a place on the bench.
* * * *
It wouldn’t be surprising for the Dodgers to:
- Gain roster flexibility by trading a pitcher or two who cannot be optioned to the minors, with left-hander Anthony Banda and right-hander Blake Treinen being primary candidates.
- For the team to trade Emmett Sheehan and prospects for a quality, southpaw starting pitcher; possibly the Detroit Tigers Tarik Skubal or the Washington Nationals Mackenzie Gore.
- For Hyeseong Kim to be the Dodgers regular second baseman. Kim was disappointed in his 2025 performance and has worked hard in the off-season to increase his conditioning, strength, and hitting mechanics. Videos and recent photographs show a much physically-stronger Kim. He came to the team with talent and tools, now he has the strength to use those skills at the MLB level.
With Kim playing second base, Tommy Edman becomes the super utility player, playing as needed on the infield, left field and center field. Edman is well suited for the utility role, playing excellent defense and contributing to the offense with a team oriented approach.
* * * * * *
Posted in
How much of the injuries unpredicted will effect all of the roster manipulations. Plus you can never assume effectiveness and keeping guys fresh. These are all going to influence the roster.
On the hitters side all of the above applies and we are another yr older.
Do we really need another lefty starter??? We only have Blake Snell.
Gore?? What would we have to give up?
Injuries are part of the game as the 162 regular season schedule is a physical and mental grind. The Dodgers depth of talent places them in an excellent position to make the postseason and a healthy roster makes them the odds on favorite to three peat. Great point an about effectiveness. We saw last year how Mookie Betts struggled throughout the regular season and Teoscar Hernández was well below his 2024 production.
The Dodgers will win without adding another LH starter. I think the team will be stronger with another quality LH’er in the starting rotation, forcing opposing hitters to adjust. Of course, Skubal would be a terrific rental for 2026 if Detroit would accept a reasonable return. Gore is under team control for couple of years and his talent is only a small step below Skubal.
We would probably have to give up a ton to get Skubal. If we do get him instead of a lockout in 2027 the owners might vote to stop playing in 2026.LOL.
Gore would require probably one of the outfield prospects and a pitching prospect.
Gore is now a Texas Ranger — they sent 5 prospects to the Nationals: the 12th overall pick last June, their no. 2 prospect, nos. 12, 16 and 18. No way Dodgers would pay that price for Gore.
I saw that. Rediculous overpay.
Would love to have seen Gore in Dodger Blue, but (thankfully) no way Friedman would have done ANYTHING like that. I believe that Texas just became a second (or third) place team in the 2026 AL West.
I agree with you and Steve. I did read an article that compared values of Gore compared to the prospects that said Texas clearly won the trade.
Bader to the Giants on a 2 yr deal!!
Good deal for the Gnats. I wanted him for the Dodgers.
Ohio
I was hoping the Dodgers after winning 2 Championships would pull back.
I could see an outfield of Teo and ward in LF Pages in RF and Bader in CF.
I love the Diaz signing, but I thought we could save 50 mil in Payroll and play the Cards we had in our hand. Bader ended up signing for a lot less than we both thought.
Though the Mets made the offer to Tucker for 220 million and the Dodgers had to go 240 mil it is by any standards a ridiculous contract and has infuriated many
baseball fans and team owners.
Yep, I thought Bader would get more. Gnats got a bargain. Bader was my choice to improve our outfield. Bader at $11M/year, Tucker at $60M/year. Unless Bader totally tanks or is out with an injury all year, Tucker will not be 6 times better than him. But, it isn’t my money.
I read something yesterday that the Dodgers had the highest revenue of around 750 mil and payroll plus luxury tax around 575 mil so very profitable. Yankees had almost that much revenue but only spent less than 400 mil. So who is worse for baseball?
Ohio and Steve, Bader and Tucker comparison:
I am blown away by Tucker’s AAV — but the Dodgers added the best RF’er available and kept him away from Toronto and NY (Yankees and Mets).
Dodgers are built on pitching and offense, and Tucker is a much better offensive player than Bader:
In 924 games played by Bader – 96 wRC+ (4% below ML average) and 16 WAR
in 789 games played by Tucker – 138 wRC+ (42% better than Bader) and 25.4 WAR (58.8% better than Bader
Bader’s defense is light years better than Tucker, but cannot offset Tucker’s offensive advantage.
I like Bader as a fourth OF’er, but IMO Dodgers needed an every day, LH hitter to play RF and bat in middle of the lineup. I had hoped the Dodgers would trade for the Red Sox OF’er Duran.
Ben Rohrtvet back which is good news.
Anthony Banda released.
Dodgers have Wrobleski, Tanner Scott,
Dryer and Vesia as Lefty options out of the pen.