I think the Dodgers are pretty much complete with their major roster construction. I thought I would do an initial comparison of the 2024 actual opening day 26-man roster, and my projected 2025 roster.
The 2024 roster was missing a fair amount of players that began the season on the IL.
Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Emmet Sheehan, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin, with the first four returning to the 26 man roster, but Graterol and Kershaw going back to and staying on the IL later in the year.
My 2025 projection replaces Kiké Hernández with Tommy Edman and Jason Heyward with Michael Conforto. For the bench, I selected James Outman over Andy Pages because:
- Outman is better as a 4th OF coming off the bench than Andy Pages, who is more deserving of a regular spot in a lineup.
- Outman is a clear better defensive OF, something necessary for a 4th
- Outman would be the lone LH hitter on the bench.
The bullpen is a moving target. I selected Ben Casparius for the Ryan Yarbrough role. It could also be Landon Knack in the rotation with Tony Gonsolin dropping to the bullpen in the Ryan Yarbrough role. The Dodgers could also acquire another high leverage reliever. The bullpen will be an open audition for spots during ST.
Depth will be fine with Andy Pages, Hunter Feduccia, Dalton Rushing, Ryan Ward, Justin Wrobleski, Nick Frasso, and possibly Ben Casparius and/or Ben Casparius. Later in the season, Jackson Ferris should be available. But will he be needed? The Dodgers will undoubtedly sign multiple AAAA players for OKC.
Clayton Kershaw should be signed as soon as the Dodgers hit ST and they can move players to the 60 day IL. Will they add Ha-Seong Kim at that time or go with what they have. Will there be a new CF addition? New SS?
The Dodgers picked up two very valuable prospects (LHSP Jackson Ferris and OF Zyhir Hope). For me Ferris is the one untouchable, and Hope comes close. LAD picked them up Might they be able to do the same with Dalton Rushing or is he more valuable playing catcher 1/3 of the time, and filling in at LF, 1B, DH at OKC.
Is Gavin Lux a better option for LAD at 2B or in a trade. Before we reach New Years, IMO, Lux at 2B gives the Dodgers the higher ceiling.
Will Mookie continue to hit as a SS, or will the defense take away from his offense? I think he will be more than fine both offensively and defensively.
Will Shohei Ohtani’s offense suffer from his record breaking 2024 when he pitches again in 2025?
Will Max return to his 35 HR, 95 RBI, .352 OBP, 4.1 bWAR production for his way undervalued $12MM salary?
How many pitchers will reach 150 IP? How many truly need to with the Dodgers depth?
I am bullish on Michael Conforto’s one year deal, but somewhat bearish on Teoscar Hernández’s 3 year deal. I think he will be good for 2025, okay for 2026, but questions will persist for 2027.
Will we see the 2023 version of James Outman, or the 2024 MLB version? I say he will be more of the 2023 version.
One last question on the 2025 roster. Will Kiké Hernández find himself back on the LAD roster when roster spots open up when players can be moved to the 60 day IL? I have been accused of being anti Kiké Hernández, but I am not. I preferred Kiké to CT3 when CT signed the 4-year contract. Most who follow me know that I am defense oriented. While most fans are run scoring oriented, I am at least equally a run prevention fan. Taylor is a good defensive utility player, but Kiké is a far better defensive utility player than CT3.
But there is no spot for Kiké on this team right now. The Dodgers are not releasing Taylor. So when I say Kiké will not be with the Dodgers for 2025, it is not because I do not think he would be a solid player for LAD, only that there has to be a spot for him on the roster. I think Kiké wants to be a Dodger and I think he is willing to wait until ST when the Dodgers can do some roster manipulation with the 60 day IL. He signed with LAD last year on February 26.
The Dodgers are always capable of doing something that comes out of nowhere and have about 6 weeks before pitchers and catchers report.
I do not see any question that the 2025 LAD roster is superior to the 2024. If this team stays relatively healthy they will challenge the 2022 won-loss record of 111-51.
If they sign Sasaki then Gonsolin moves down to swing starter/bullpen and Casparius moves to OKC?
I would much rather have Kike than Taylor. I also wanted Kike instead of Taylor in 2021. It was somewhat unavoidable as Kike wanted a full time gig and Taylor was OK with being a part time utility player. However, what was avoidable was overpaying Taylor as AF did. A big mistake. I would have offered Taylor the 4 years, but at $30-32M. I guess now all we can hope for is for Taylor to have a bounce back season and give us at least 2.0 WAR. If he tanks again, I can see the Dodgers releasing him at the trade deadline. I was really hoping AF could find a way to trade Taylor in a salary dump. Oh well, AF has not made many major blunders. Just Bauer and Taylor come to mind.
It’s a good team. 111 wins? No. Not with Glasgow, Miller and Gonsolin in the starting 5. None of those 3 will get 25 starts. I kinda doubt Yamamoto will either. Wrobleski, Knack, Kershaw, and whoever are all .500 pitchers, maybe, Shohei remains an unknown after a second TJ, so, it’s going to take a lot of scoring, again, to match last year’s 98. Everyone is older of course with most the other side of 30. The West got better, but I don’t believe any team there is better than the Dodgers.
I still believe AF isn’t done yet. You know what I want him to do.
I don’t see AF making anymore position player moves. The front office likes platoons if there are no stars or superstars at those positions. It makes a lot of sense to have platoons in 2 outfield positions and 2B as the roster stands right now. The only move I can see AF making is trading Taylor (in disagreement with Jeff) by paying part/more than half of Taylor’s salary and getting back a “lottery ticket” or just paying more than half of Taylor’s salary without anything in return. I don’t think trading Taylor opens a spot for Kike. They already have 14 position players if you include both Outman and Pages plus Taylor. Why would you block 1 of Outman and Pages for Taylor? Especially since they hit better in a platoon than Taylor.
The other day I read people mentioning Gomes saying Conforto will play everyday, but that was before Teo was signed. Before Teo was signed someone in the outfield had to play everyday, that’s not the case now. Again the front office likes platoons unless there is a star or superstar at the position.
I can see AF going after Sasaki and a high leverage reliever though.
The offense will be better this year than last year. Conforto/Pages platoon is going to be better than whatever it was last year including Heyward.
Then Outman/Edman platoon will be better than the revolving door in CF last year.
The starting pitching will be better this year than last year with the additions of Snell and hopefully Sasaki and Ohtani later on, instead of Paxton and Miller and Flaherty.
The bullpen will be better this year than last year by adding Gonsolin and/or May and subtracting Joe Kelly, Ryan Yarbrough and Michael Grove.
Even without Sasaki and another high leverage reliever the team is better than last year if the front office plays their cards right.
Excellent overview.
I share your optimism about Outman.
If any of the Dodger stars have a weak spring, they’ll still make the starting lineup.
But what if Lux struggles and Outman thrives like he did in the Spring of ’23? He was considered a longshot for the roster… and then he played his way into the starting lineup.
Edman is getting the big bucks for his versatility. He won a Gold Glove at 2B a few seasons back, so if Outman shines and Lux doesn’t, Outman starts at CF (perhaps in a platoon) and Edman starts at 2B. Perhaps Outman could deliver another surprise.
One quibble: The Dodgers are planning a six-man rotation in ’25, and it will eventually include Shohei. The addition of Snell and Shohei make this rotation much stronger–and Sasaki might add to the ridiculous pitching depth.
At the start of the season, perhaps Knack should be the sixth SP. He’s earned it.
I doubt any Dodger starter will reach 150 innings–and that’s OK. Injuries and “load management” will distribute the innings among about 10 or 11 starters (including Kershaw) leading up to the playoffs.
Keeping Snell, Shohei, Glasnow and Yamamoto healthy for the postseason will be a priority–but Sasaki could bump one of those guys into the bullpen.
The most valuable free agent for the Dodgers or any team is Sasaki. His pay to potential is unmatched and most GMs would rather have Sasaki than any other free agent in the market this year, including Soto, Snell, and Burnes. To me, the Sasaki signing would be vastly superior to the Yamamoto signing as well. The Dodgers still sound like the most likely landing spot which would significantly improve their already impressive offseason.
I would rather have Kike Hernandez over Chris Taylor on our bench jusy as an insurance policy if any one gets hurt he could play as a starter over Chris Taylor who was the starting centerfielder in the world series Kike was nit Chris Taylor that’s why yiu bring back kike and trade Chris Taylor to someone like the Pirates or As and yiu say thanks Chris. The bench should be Miguel Rojas Austin Barnes Kike Hernandez and Andy Pages.
Happy New Year Dodger Chroniclers.
After reading all these comments I can see that most of them make sense even though don’t all agree. To me that means that there are numerous possibilities and options for Friedman/ Gomes. Any if these might happen and only F/G know what they are planning and even that might change depending on what free agents and teams want. But I love the exercise of playing GM.
Happy New Years everyone. Be safe, be kind and be humble.