I have always looked outside the box for relievers. While many wanted Felipe Vázquez (formerly Rivero), or Texas’ Keone Kela, and others wanted Ken Giles, I was pushing for Texas’ José Leclerc. I was also an advocate for Minnesota’s Ryan Pressly before he was traded to Houston.
I certainly understand why LAD fans are clamoring for Tanner Scott. Not only is he an outstanding end of game closer, but if signed, the LAD LH hitters, especially Ohtani, would not have to face him. I am in the belief that the Dodgers will not sign Tanner Scott. I would love for them to, but it just is not how AF builds his bullpen. He prefers to “fix” Evan Phillips, Anthony Banda, Yency Almonte, Ryan Brasier… And let’s be honest, Michael Kopech was a failed starter, and not a very good reliever with CWS before LAD got him.
The cost for Kopech and Edman:
Los Angeles Dodgers traded 3B Miguel Vargas, SS Alexander Albertus, SS Jeral Perez and a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Chicago White Sox for RHP Michael Kopech; Chicago White Sox traded RHP Erick Fedde, OF Tommy Pham and cash considerations to the St. Louis Cardinals; St. Louis Cardinals traded SS Tommy Edman and RHP Oliver Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
AF likes to win trades. He did on this one.
While with Baltimore, Scott was not a very good reliever, except for 20.1 IP in 2020. It was not until 2023 with Miami that he started to gel. Now he is going to get paid after two good years. The Dodgers will stay in on Scott hoping that his price will drop. Right now, Chicago Cubs seem to be the front runners. They have more than enough luxury tax cap room to spend on Scott.
IMO, AF would rather sign Kirby Yates or David Robertson on a 1 year deal. To keep a 30 year old reliever at the top of his game for four years is asking a lot.
I have seen some publications push for teams (like LAD) looking for a closer to talk to Minnesota for Jhoan Duran. As strange as it may seem, some believe that Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase is not untouchable. The A’s Mason Miller is not going anywhere. One can speculate all he (or she) wants, but the A’s are not moving him. Actually I am looking forward to seeing what he can do in Sacramento. I am sure that Ryan Helsley is a trade target, but he is a rental and the prospect capital will be unapproachable for AF. I cannot see Houston trading Bryan Abreu.
Two relievers who are probably not available, but the kind I like to look for are Minnesota’s Griffin Jax and Cleveland’s Cade Smith. Jax (30) would probably be less expensive than Smith (26) because of his age. Jax has three years control, while Smith has 5 years control.
Jax Statcast page:
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/griffin-jax-643377?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb
Smith Statcast page:
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/cade-smith-671922?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb
Also with Cleveland, another failed starter turned reliever is Hunter Gaddis who turned in an outstanding season in his first full year as a reliever.
Jax and Smith (especially Jax) are ground ball pitchers. Jax is an 89th percentile ground ball pitcher. Smith is a 61st percentile ground ball pitcher. Gaddis is more of a fly ball pitcher (22nd percentile ground ball pitcher)…just ask Juan Soto.
One more Cleveland reliever I would like to see AF consider is LHRP Tim Herrin, 28 with five years control. Herrin is also a predominant ground ball pitcher (88th percentile).
Herrin Statcast page.
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/tim-herrin-682120?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb
I could even see AF/BG taking a chance with Pete Fairbanks. AF loves to trade with Tampa Bay.
It may not be popular amongst LAD fans, but if you look at who the Dodgers like to pick up, Michael Grove is exactly that kind of pitcher they try to “fix”. I do not know if he is “fixable”, but I had no idea Evan Phillips, Anthony Banda, Ryan Brasier, and Michael Kopech were “fixable”.
Maybe Grove is not fixable. Regardless the Dodgers have Phillips, Blake Treinen, Kopech, and Alex Vesia to close out games. They have moved away from individual closer, to closer by committee.
Don’t sleep on Ben Casparius (26) from becoming another late inning high leverage pitcher. He will probably head back to OKC to start the season and work on his control. He is a bigtime strikeout pitcher that will fit in nicely at the back end of the bullpen.
Will AF/BG and Dustin May come to the conclusion that May belongs in the bullpen?
Lest we forget, Edgardo Henriquez!?! He possibly moved too fast last year, but he did make MLB after starting the year in low A.
How good is LHRP Jack Dreyer? LAD protected him for a reason. LAD front office knows pitchers.
Many prognosticators have projected both Kyle Hurt and Ryan River to be late inning shut down relievers. Why sign a reliever for 4 years when these two will be ready for next year.
What becomes of Nick Frasso? Starter or reliever?
Carlos Duran and Ronan Kopp, both with stuff too good to quit on.
The Dodgers are loaded with pitching at the MLB level and/or MLB ready.
Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack could be starters or relievers.
While I like the idea of Tanner Scott, I am not sure AF/BG think 4 years and $64MM++ (closer to $80MM) is the way to go. I do not believe the Dodgers need Scott. Their bullpen could rival last year’s Cleveland bullpen this year with who they have on their roster right now. Regardless of what many think, the Dodgers do have a budget, and the utility for a decision to sign a $31MM (actual cost with luxury tax) per year reliever may be too onerous for even the wealthy LAD.
Sure, the Dodgers have a lot of injury prone pitchers, but so does every team. Who says that none of the Seattle fab four will get hurt this year? Who says that Zach Wheeler, Aaron Nola, or Ranger Suarez do not get hurt? It happens. LAD’s 40 man roster’s pitchers are deeper and in many cases better than any other MLB organization.
My only concern is that LAD may have too many pitchers to keep happy. They may have to move a couple to add to the current roster in other positions, but not for rentals. We may see some more Michael Busch type trades.
My first choice is not Tanner Scott. My first choice is Minnesota’s Griffin Jax, and then the 213 other pitchers in the organization.
But if they do sign Scott, I will not be upset that I was wrong.
I also read that AF was waiting to see if the price for Scott drops. Seems the Mets are moving away from Alonso. He is running out of suitors. Angels would make a ton of sense for him. Bregman has stated he is not lowering the number of years he desires. If St. Louis trades Arenado, he could end up there, or maybe even Boston.
Dodgers surely do not NEED Scott, but he would make our bullpen lethal. And we all saw how important a shutdown bullpen can be in the postseason.
And the Dodgers play for October and WS titles.
The money spent on Scott would be very well spent.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have to admit, I’m not familiar with those names Jeff. As always, I’ll trust your judgment on them.
It looks to me like many of the in house minor league arms could float below the surface for much of the year and be given the R&R innings available in mid to late summer. It’s probably true the Dodgers don’t need Scott, but, that in my mind is not the point. The Los Angeles Dodgers are building a muscular organization and improvement in talent and depth at EVERY position is the obvious goal.
I’ve made my opinions on the key positions clear for months now. I don’t think a platoon of Edman and Outman in center is the answer a team like the Dodgers is looking for. Edman doesn’t hit right hand pitching, which is still near 75% of the league and Outman remains a question mark. Mookie at short. He should be fine there for a few months, but shortstop will wear down 32 year old legs unfamiliar to the rigors of that position. In my orbit the Dodgers did not whiff on a high caliber shortstop (Adames) they landed one in Kim. They traded Lux, like I thought they would, which opened the position for the player that belongs there, Mookie Betts. I still await that move sometime between now and mid season and I will predict the move will be made sooner than later.
After being a Dodger fan 67 years I feel damm lucky to sit back and watch what is happening with my team. This organization is stacked with talent, from the top of management down to scouts and maintenance. Let’s hope the medical and training staff get the injuries figured out. From my experience and study on the subject? Diet, strength, flexibility and load management (proper recovery) should be emphasized.
Projections will be coming. I’m still working on mine. At the moment I have the under on 125 innings for both Sasaki and Ohtani. I just checked, Steamer has 121 innings for Shohei, sounds close, 139 for Sasaki, hard no from me. I’m quite certain these numbers will fluctuate.
Kim can play short but I read his arm strength is questionable (Lux 2.0?). Edman/Rojas at SS makes the most sense with Mookie at 2nd. But then where does Kim play? And who plays CF? I’d put Kike’ in center but he’s not on the team (still hope he’s signed) and is there room for him on the 26 man roster?
No there is not. Someone would have to be traded. Kike is not coming back unless one of the infielders, or an outfielder is moved. Since they can list Ohtani as a pitcher, the 13 position players will be, Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Rojas, Kim, Taylor, Teo, Conforto, Pages, Barnes, Smith, Edman. Several players, Betts, Muncy, Kim, Rojas, Taylor, Edman, all can play multiple positions.
Good take Sam.
Kim was awarded a Gold Glove at shortstop in ‘21. He has in fact received 4 Gold Glove Awards in Korea, three at second base. I have not seen any videos of his play at shortstop, but I assume he can throw from there or he would not have received that award.
As a former player and coach what drove me crazy with both Lux and Betts was their propensity to throw the casual sidearm toss from the left side of the infield. That is a serious no no from Little League level up. Field the ball with proper mechanics, stand up straight and throw OVERHAND to first base! To watch Major League players make this mistake is maddening to me. The only exception to that rule is the quick toss to second on a force out there.
Kim at short. Can’t wait to see it. His second base highlights are electric.
From what I’ve read Kim is a good defender at both SS and 2B. But it’s worth noting that the gold glove in the KBO is not strictly a defensive honor, but reflects overall play.
Both Outman and Edman in 2023 had many more plate appearances than they had in 2024. Outman’s BA and OBP were about the same whether a lefty or a righty was pitching. He only lost power against lefties. Same with Edman except his power loss was against righties.
Muncy in 2024 missed a lot of games due to oblique strains which has become a thing with him due to age and how hard he swings. His 2024 BA and OBP has major differences when batting against lefties and righties.
I’m not sure why there is so much attention on lefty righty splits with Outman and Edman and so little discussion with Muncy.
How has the oblique become a thing for him? He did have a bad oblique last year, but his last one before that was in 2021, and he was out 10 days. Muncy has been on the IL 5 times:
2024 – Oblique – 94 days
2023 – Hamstring – 21 days
2022 – Elbow – 12 days
2021 – Oblique – 10 days
2019 – Wrist – 25 days
And during those five years, Max averaged nearly 29 HR and 83 RBI. Last year, Max earned $12MM and put up a 2.4 fWAR and 3.0 bWAR. This year he is again earning $12MM (approx 1.5 fWAR). Even his defense is improving…+5DRS and 0 OAA last year. He has a career OPS+ of 123 and a career OPS of .826. He has a 24.7% career K rate and a career 15% BB rate. This year The Shredder has him at #8 3B. For his career, Max is north of .800 OPS against both RHP (.835) and LHP (.802).
I do not see where Max Muncy is a problem.
Muncy’s best MLB years are behind him. I hope your enthusiasm for him is rewarded. I fear his hitting performance in the WS is a more accurate indication for what he will do in 2025 than the stats you just shared. We’ll see soon enough.
There is a huge difference in Edman’s R/L career splits. Same with Outman actually.
As for Muncy and obliques, I think maybe sometimes just watching him play baseball he looks rather oblique,
– neither perpendicular nor parallel to a given line or surface, rather indirectly expressed. Especially when playing third base. He often has looked askew out there, though, Jeff is right, he has improved. His two best positions are in the batters box and first base. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we have him, but he kinda does look like an oblique waiting to happen.
Because Max can hit 35 HRs
Still?
Yes.
AF surprised you Jeff. We’re signing Scott. 4 yrs/ 72 mil.
Total surprise. Did not think they would do that.
Yep. Surprised me too.
And the pool gets deeper.
I’m thinking right about now most of us don’t have a clue as to what AF will do. Some boldly proclaimed AF would never sign a RP to a big multi-year FA contract, but AF is breaking the mold and I love it. Great time to be a Dodger fan.
I was one who boldly predicted that AF would never sign a relief pitcher to a big multi-year FA contract. Scott is $18MM AAV and KJ signed a 5 year $16MM AAV after multiple outstanding years as the LAD closer. And KJ is headed to HOF.
Looks like you’re safe predicting that AF will never sign a reliever to a contract with an AAV over $18MM.
Yesssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WELL I WAS WRONG! LAD is a better team today than yesterday. Tanner Scott is more of a luxury than necessity, but apparantly the Dodgers can afford luxuries. Good for the Dodgers, and good for LAD fan. I look forward to the Padres fans telling everyone how the game is broken because of the finanicial ability of the Dodgers. I have no clue if they are done or not. I would still try for Griffin Jax.
The signing of Shohei Ohtani has changed the Dodgers landscape.
Not to be a debbie-downer, but before we take our seats for the 2026 parade, neither Josh Hader or Edwin Diaz have pitched well since they signed their big contracts. Hopefully Tanner Scott will be different.
Diaz has pitiched last postseason.
Go Dodgers111111111111
Yes Diaz did pitch last postseason. 6 games, 8.2 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 7 BB, 13 K, 3.12 ERA.
The Dodgers had 5 relievers put up better post season numbers.
Regular season, Diaz had a 3.52 ERA.
It’s OK if Scott doesn’t pitch well since we didn’t really need him in the first place.
If he gets off to a bad start, I’m going to put Bums in charge of putting together a trade of Scott, CT3 and Max for Witt Jr. When you’re the Dodgers (or their fans) anything is possible.
What amazing unexpected news this morning!
Now, Go Rams today and I’ll see all of you at Sofi next Sunday!
Add me to those who are surprised. With the luxury tax the Dodgers are paying 151 million.
As was said earlier on this thread, the Ohtani contract changed everything. Ohtani made a commitment to the Dodgers and the Dodgers are honoring that commitment.
And after Scott now trade for Robert jun.
Go Dodgers, Go Rams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even as a Dodger fan, I must complain that this just isn’t fair! And I love it!!!!!! At this point I’m thinking that AF could bring back Vin!
He’ll bring back Vin, and add Uecker just for fun.
Sorry about your Rams, but Saquon is too strong! Nice try though….
AF’s tendencies have been much discussed concerning big dollar bullpen/closer signings. Conclusion? Probably not going to happen. Ditto for trading prospects for high leverage reliever at the trade deadline. Well, it looks like AF is throwing aside all his “tendencies” into the wind.
He, also, said he doesn’t like to make trades at the tradeline. The way things look now, I would be surprised if he would have a need to do so this year. The trade deadline will probably be a non event. Let’s hope so.
I was good with the current BP pieces. Especially later in the season when some starters at the start of the year will be moved to the BP as Ohtani, Sheehan, and Kershaw are added to the rotation. Now it might be to OKC.
AF has to be done, doesn’t he? This has to be the greatest off season in Dodger history. The rest of baseball had their opportunities to make these signings. Maybe, not Sasaki. But, everyone else. Other than the willingness to spend, the chance to play in LA for a dominating team has to be huge right now for any free agent.
Carry on.
“AF has to be done, doesn’t he?”
Nope.
Well, since money is no object, cut Taylor and re-sign Kike. Or pony up a bunch of dough and trade Taylor for outfield prospect(s).
AF will have some work to be done at the deadline. He’ll have to give back a couple of players to the second best team just to make things interesting
I’ve felt all along Kike’ will be signed when the team reports to camp and the 60 day IL opens up. Pages and Outman will be in OKC and Kike’ can platoon with Conforto or Edman or Muncy as needed.
I hope you are right.
I like Kike as much as everyone else, but it doesn’t quite fit, I think they will give Pages, or Outman the shot at that last roster spot, but if Kike ends up on the roster it will be okay with me. The team still has to leave some money to sign Clayton.
I stick by what I have said all along, there is no way Kike returns to the Dodgers unless they move Chris Taylor. Right now Taylor, Edman, Rojas, Betts and Kim, all play multiple infield positions. There is no need for Kike unless Taylor is gone. Don’t worry Keith, there is enough money for Kersh who at best will get a one year contract with some incentives,
I remember 3 or 4 years ago when baseball fans were saying MLB would have to do something to stop Steve Cohen from ruining baseball. Stevie Who?
I have no clue (maybe Jeff could give us an educated guess) but I’m thinking that not only will the Dodgers have the highest payroll this year, but may very well also be the most profitable franchise in MLB.
The Dodgers have combined financial flexibility with extremely good front office moves to put together what seems to be an unstoppable force. Players are now taking slightly less than their best offer to play here.
Owners at the lower end of the spectrum do whatever they can to use their team to line their pockets, not caring whether they put a competitive product on the field or not. Owners like Cohen made it known that they want to win at any cost to their fortune, that winning was more important than profit.
And then we have the Dodgers, who seem to have found the secret to having it both ways. Put the best team on the field while making massive profits. After Andrew negotiates Doc’s new contract, Stan Kasten and Mark Walter need to make sure they tear up Friedman’s and give him a major raise as well.
I was in the JD camp, I thought they might try to trade for Williams, but after the Dodgers missed on that, I figured the bull pen piece would be another reclamation project.
Andrew did exactly what he said he was going to do before the winter started.
Jeff your article made complete sense, and I agreed with it 100% but I must say I’m happy to see you were off base, and AF decided to change his business model this off season.
Haha
Jeff mentioned “Sure, the Dodgers have a lot of injury prone pitchers, but so does every team. Who says that none of the Seattle fab four will get hurt this year?”
That certainly could happen to the Mariners.
But I wonder if Seattle is really lucky or are they on to something? And it wasn’t just last year, but 3 years running.
Last season they had 4 guys with 30 of more starts. All 4 had at least 175 innings topped by Logan Gilbert with 208 innings. 6 starting pitchers pitched 161 games. That’s remarkable.
But it wasn’t a one year wonder. In 2023 the Mariners had 6 starting pitchers start 149 of 162 games.
And in 2022, Seattle had 6 guys start 154 games.
Logan Gilbert has had 3 consecutive seasons with 33, 32 and 32 starts, averaging 194 innings per season.
By comparison, the Dodgers used 17 starting pitchers last season. Gavin Stone led the Dodgers in innings with 140 on 25 starts and will miss 2025 with shoulder surgery. Glasnow was next with 22 starts and 134 innings. He got elbow tendonitis.
So are the Mariners on to something? Or are they super lucky to have a starting corp that doesn’t break down? And are the Dodgers just super unlucky for at least the last 2 seasons.
You decide.
Good stats Phil.
Yeah, every team has arm injuries. I have no idea what the numbers are league wide but for me the most important numbers are those of the Dodgers. They had a complete staff of starters out, and an argument could be made that injured staff was better than a lot healthy staffs around the league. Will those injured starters all return to high value careers? What if they do? Holy smokes.
Interesting question…
One factor–a small one–could be the advantage of pitching in a pitchers’ park. Pitchers can stay in games longer and have their ERAs improve when deep flies die on the warning track and don’t become three-run homers.
Teoscar suffered in Seattle but thrived in LA.
This is getting ridiculous. Virtually everyone who has been mentioned on our wish lists has been signed this off season.
Yesterday I thought to myself that the Pen could do with a LH weapon to pair with Alex Vesia, and low and behold here comes Tanner Scott!
I love that the Padres traded their 2,4,5 & 24 ranked Prospects for Scott at the TD. Imagine how they must feel!
Still feel that a trade must be in the works to clear some space.
Murakawi next year anyone??
Cannot wait to get started now.
How fair is it to keep all our young starting arms in their prime down in AAA as insurance? Got to believe there will be some moves. I’d keep Miller, Sheehan, Stone and Ryan
There are 162 starts in the regular season. Who on this staff will get more than 20? 25? I’d like to see those that are ready get some experience, if not starting then long relief innings. Who might that be? I don’t know I’ll leave that to others. All I know is I want the 4 best rested and ready to go in October.
Stone and Ryan on IL all season, I think. Hurt is recovering too.
There will be injuries, but a few of these young Dodger arms must be hoping to go someplace they won’t be blocked by guys with giant contracts.
Think about it though WD the Padres gave up a ton for Scott, but they had the Dodgers down 2-1 if they had gotten by the Dodgers they’d had a chance to win the WS. I felt they might have been the toughest team we played in the playoffs, they put their money where their mouth was, as much as I dislike them I have to give them credit for going for it.
It is ridiculous!
Also ridiculous: Literally having a dream that I’m a spring training and discovering that the guys I’m chatting with are named Bear and Watford Dodger.
Was Badger there? Not sure.
I need to get offline….
Another Great signing for the Dodgers. Tanner Scott shut down Ohtani in the playoffs, and now he is in the Dodger bullpen. The Dodgers have far and away the best roster in baseball. They are the betting favorite at 3:1 to win the WS. The next closest is NY at 8:1. The Dodgers payroll now exceeds $375 million as they have become an all star team of free agents. The entire starting rotation of Ohtani, Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, and Sasaki are external acquisitions. The top 4 hitters are all high priced free agents. Most of them are signed for 5-10 years. The future looks bright for the Dodgers. I would be surprised if the Dodgers don’t win the division 20 out of 22 years. The playoffs are a crapshoot but making the playoffs is almost a certainty for the Dodgers. I expect that the rest of the MLB will seek changes with either full revenue sharing of all TV money and sponsorships, or a hard salary cap. Enjoy the dynasty.
The headline in DodgersDigest describes the Dodgers’ off-season as “flawless.”
Seems about right.
Scott, Sasaki, Snell, Teo, Conforto, Kim…what’s not to like?
Locked up Edman on a long-term deal.
Lux, facing a limited future with the Dodgers, gets flipped for two high-draft-pick prospects, including one yet to be selected.
And by the way, the Dodgers also signed the first prospect from South Freaking Sudan, a 17-year-old guy named Joseph Deng who stands 6-7, weighs a lanky 185 lbs, and is already throwing in the mid-90s.
No idea if this Deng is related to Luol Deng or any of the other ultra-athletic Sudanese who have found success in pro basketball.
Manute Bol was from Sudan. The Dodgers’ Deng, just 17, may still be growing.
What’s not to like?
That is an A++ offseason.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
Do we need to make room on the 40 man roster to add Scott? If so, who goes.
No they’re at 39 Scott will be 40
Former Dodger catcher Jeff Torborg passed away at 83
Thanks Ron.
Just read about the passing of Jeff Torborg at the age of 83. Jeff is one of only 18 catchers who caught 3 no-hitters. Of course, his most memorable one was Koufax’s 14-K perfecto against the Cubs. While a Dodger, he also caught Bill Singers no-no. As a member of the Angels, he was behind the plate for the first of Nolan Ryan’s seven no-hitters. RIP Jeff.
There is a growing discussion that the CBA when negotiated after the 26 season, that some will be pushing for a hard cap in the majors. MLBPA will never allow that to happen.
What?!?!
Who is pushing for a hard cap?
Read the article on MLBTR.
Wait.
holy Jesus.
are you referring to a poll for site visitors as “growing discussion”!?!?!?
what would we refer to a petition on change.org? “A public cry for revolution ”?
This one is the most surprising. It’s arguably under-market, but not by much and on a reliever.
im not a huge fan of this move and don’t really understand it.
oh well.
the 40 man is still out of balance.
Not surprising for me at all.
Roberts said he wanted another high leverage bullpen guy.
Friedman said he hates to trade at the deadline.
Dodgers were in on Scott last season.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!
For hating it he sure does a lot of it. I suspect it will happen again, prompted by injuries.
So if Roberts says he’d like the challenge of teaching a team of rookies, and the team quickly followed through. that wouldn’t be a surprising shift of team building principles?
Apparently the MLB (At least some teams) are already fearing that the Dodgers will sign the Japanese “Aaron Judge” for next year, 2026
And it seems logical to me and maybe it is even already in AF’s plans, since being 3B, just what the Dodgers will need.
I can already imagine the scandal that will happen IF the Japanese signs with LA…
Turning Japanese?
I really think so….
Max is not getting younger, and 3B will soon be an area of need for the Dodgers. I’d love for Cody Hoese to prove that he’s a late bloomer and ready for the majors. One Dodger vlogger who follows the Oklahoma teams closely insists that Hoese has the best 3B glove in the organization.
I agree that this has been an A++ off-season for the Dodgers–and, amazingly, there may be more to come. But the accumulation of ML-level talent makes it so much harder for the prospects working their way up.
The guys who get traded seem to be the lucky ones.