My Dodger Christman wish list starts with Robert Suarez. I would love to see Tanner Scott rebound to what he was in 24, but I would also like him to have a partner for nights he is not at his best. Suarez fits that bill nicely. With Williams going to the Mets and Diaz seeking a 5-year deal, he is clearly to me the best option.
In a perfect world, I would love a full time CF so they could move Pages to right. I just believe he is more suited as a corner outfielder. It is true that he made the game saving catch that helped them win the World Series, but many times this season his routes and play in center left a lot to be desired. I would settle for a stop gap player like Bader, but if they decided to trade for someone like Wilyer Abreau would not bother me at all. Although the Dodgers value versatility a lot, I think they have too many utility type players on the roster as it is.
Pages moving to right would push Teo to left, or off of the team in a trade. Either would be ok with me. That would open left field up for a free agent. They need more consistent play out of the position. It was somewhat of a black hole last season offensively. I originally thought Conforto was a nice signing, but for whatever reason it turned sour pretty quickly and wasn’t helped by Roberts continuing to play him when he wasn’t producing at all. There are plenty of corner outfielders available.
Personally, I believe the Dodgers need someone with pop who can come off of the bench. Not one of their present bench players fill that bill. Call, Kim are not blessed with much power. Neither is Kike if he was in fact brought back. Rushing has power, but as a backup, he is not going to play enough to show it much.
With Kike a free agent and most likely not ready for spring training, there has been a lot of chatter about a trade for Donovan from the Cardinals. He is one of their biggest trade chips. A versatile player, he does not have much power either. At least he has not shown that yet. I believe they could solve it with an outfielder who has good power added to Pages and Teo. To me the Dodgers bench does not scare anyone.
The next couple of weeks will be very interesting. Just who will the Dodgers target? One thing I know for certain is that this team will have a huge target on their backs next season. Everyone is going to wan
Born June 14th, 1948, in Los Angeles California. AKA The Bear
I really believe in the adage “always improve from a position of strength”. The Dodgers are strong, two WS in a row tells us that, but as someone who watches every day Im of the belief we gotta little lucky in 25 and our offense is trending the wrong way.
Ive read here many times that a change of hitting coach might be the way to go, but I don’t see AF ditching the formula that has proven to be effective as 2 rings in 2 years suggests.
We have a number of aging Stars for a number of years and some on shorter contracts and it will be difficult to move them with their big deals so we need to make what we have more productive.
Im not sure hoping that Mookie, Freddie, Max and Teo will improve on last year’s numbers and Shohei has shown that pitching effects his hitting, and he’s gonna be pitching more going forward.
Tommy Tanks has had surgery and Pages needs to bounce back from a disastrous Post Season, certainly not a given. Will is a year older, but 2 days off a week seemed to help (and the busted hand!) but can we say with any confidence that Rushing is gonna hit at this level? Ryan Ward is an unknown.
To me our offensive output looks highly likely to be less than last season so we need to do something about it while we are in this position of dominance, where elite players want to join us.
As stated before AF never gets to draft the best players so his only option is by trade of free agency. There is also a good chance the new labour deal will make things harder for the Dodgers to flex their financial muscle – so now is the time to tie a couple more younger players to us for the foreseeable future.
It would be foolish to expect this current squad to repeat – it is in decline offensively. So what to do?
Tucker seems very expensive for a great but not superstar player and the number of years he wants puts me off. I much prefer Bichette, mostly because I see him as a great fit in our lineup, and also a cheaper and shorter contract length option.
I still value BA as a statistic, I like to see players getting on base at a good rate. He’s a .300 hitter, who could cover 2B, which has been a bit of a black hole for the Dodgers, or potentially 3B in 27 when Max leaves. He is also relatively young. I’d bat him second.
At some point we need to move on from these aging guys – if we want to win.
Trade for any of those outfielders I’ve seen mentioned and add Bo B – always try to keep making improvements – always keep going forward – never rest on your laurels.
Suarez would be a good addition. We would have the Padres 8th and 9th inning guys from a couple of years back.
I think there’s plenty of room to improve.
I could easily see the Dodgers signing Bichette for the reasons you cite.
Bichette is interesting, but I think Mookie (and his big contract) will move to 2B in 2-3 seasons… Then what?
Bichette is no longer perceived as a SS.
Would he become an undersized successor to Freddie, or maybe shift to LF?
Not saying it shouldn’t or won’t happen, but…
I said the same thing about Bichette, but it just sounds better coming from Watford’s sexy British accent
You notice that too?
Prediction: We sign Suarez today for 2y/$35m with a $17m vesting option for 2028 based on games pitched.
I expect Suarez to get a much better deal than that and I’m not sure AF will be willing to do that.
What kind of odds do you want?
today?! I like it!
Sunday they will announce the ERA committees vote for the Hall.
I hope they don’t elect Bonds or Clemens. I would not vote any of the list in. But Kent, Mattingly, and Murphy are close to what I view as Hall Of Famers.
Kent and Bonds had a strained relationship when they both played for the Giants. Kent especially didn’t like the Giants over the top special treatment they gave to Barry. It would be ironic if he made the Hall and Bonds didn’t.
We talk a lot about the value of our prospects, but if you go back to the 2023 top 30 list, only Pages has gone on to be a starter for us. Most get traded. So I’m expecting more of the same this offseason.
Ryan, Stone, Sheehan tho
going back THREE years?!?!??
On a World Series team?
Go back as far as you want. Very few prospects get signed beyond their service years.
If the Dodgers trade with Boston for an outfielder then I prefer Anthony.
2024 Red Sox Top Prospects https://share.google/1Q0I0jzhsGC1BWKtv
He’s 21. I’d put him in LF.
I think I want Royce Lewis for 3rd and Max as the power bat on the bench.
Dude, he’s untouchable
Yes, Anthony’s the potential superduperstar. Boston is hoping he’s the next Ted Williams.
Anthony is probably Top 5 on the Least Likely MLB Players to be Traded List. But good luck.
That’s the way I roll
“Personally, I believe the Dodgers need someone with pop who can come off of the bench”…………..Bear.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s nice to have swiss army knives for versatility but our bench lacked offensive chops in favor of defensive platoons. I’d like to see one power bat available as a pinch hitter.
And yes I know we have won consecutive WS Championships.
Getting Rushing more ABs will help solve that “pop” problem.
It’s a long season, and the Dodgers did a great job of managing their resources to be a full strength (or close to it) in the playoffs. This season, they can give Rushing more reps at 1B and (perhaps) LF.
Whenever Rushing starts, either Will or Freddie can come off the bench.
And if Rushing gets in gear, he’ll deliver the pop.
There is no guarantee Rushing hits MLB pitching yet. Many players show pop at AAA and fail to do so in the majors. I much prefer a player with a solid track record of providing some power.
He needs more than 5 to 10 AB’s a week to find out.
So 5 weeks after the Dodgers broke all of Toronto’s hearts, last night Rui Hachimura and the Lakers hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer in Toronto to win the game.
I hope somebody yelled out “Miguel Rojas” right after that?
Don’t forget they thought they were getting Shohei, until they didn’t.
If we somehow steal Bichette or Tucker from them, no Angeleno will ever be allowed in Toronto again.
That would suck, as Toronto is an amazing and fun city with such good food.
Dim sum
I know a Dodger fan in Winnipeg that wanted the Dodgers to beat Toronto like we would want Toronto to beat Houston.
For those who were hoping to see Buxton on the Dodger roster, the Twins have stated they aren’t trading Ryan, Lopez or Buxton this winter.
Of course they aren’t legally bound by that statement.
So, Lewis is in play
What is the fascination with players who cannot stay on the field? Lewis is another injury prone very talented player.
I am to position players as Friedman is to pitchers
Could be. His name wasn’t mentioned in the article I saw.
I just put a trade together at Trade Simulator which I predict that fans from both signs would say no to.
Dodgers get Royce Lewis
Twins get Ferris, Henriquez, Freeland, Ward
Simulator says OK. I bet fans from both sides say hell no.
2022 Twins Top Prospects https://share.google/4VWAKMG2AZVmq4I7x
A couple years ago, Lewis was on my wish list. He is impressive in flashes but seems inconsistent and injury-prone.
He was pretty meh in ’25, with stats down in Conforto country.
Max and Miggy can cover 3B next season, with help from Kike later on…
I remain ambivalent about dealing Teo. Just moving him to LF would improve the team defense. On the other hand, it would be good to see Ryan Ward get a fair shake from the Dodgers. But perhaps the fairest move would be to trade him.
Maybe at the deadline for Buxton if Twins are out of it. We only need him for October
I like your thinking–but Buxton wouldn’t be a rental. He’s got 3 seasons left on his contract.
But I think one lesson from last season would be to enhance roster flexibility by spending LESS money, not more.
When AF decided that Conforto was worth $17 million, it locked up LF for Conforto and RF for Teo, forcing Outman and Pages to compete for CF. Pages prevailed and Outman went to OKC.
Without Conforto in the picture, the starting OF may have read Teo-Outman/Edman-Pages. That’s a superior defensive alignment–and younger too. If Outman slumped as badly as Conforto, no big deal–the Dodgers could have addressed it at midseason, perhaps beating out the Phils for Bader’s services. Perhaps Ward would have been called up to help out.
AF supposedly has said he wants to make deals in the winter so he won’t have to spend more at the trade deadline.
This thinking evidently informed the overpays for Conforto, Scott and Yates. Come midseason, he still wound up dealing for an outfielder, Alex Call, and a reliever, Brock Stewart. And as things turned out, Conforto, Scott and Yates didn’t factor into the postseason.
So I’m hoping Schwarber goes back to Philly, then Toronto and the Yanks can take their pick between Tucker, Bichette, and Bellinger, I’d be happy to see the Dodgers take whoever is left over. As much as I’d like to see that happen, Jeff is probably right and the Dodgers will get some second tier OF, as a combo with Ward.
If they want a second tier outfielder to platoon with Ward, they already have one in Alex Call.
Oh man STB your making me feel guilty, I forgot about Call, and I actually like him
For those who have Instagram, fantastic commercial for charity in Canada festuring Freddie
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR47AJBCTtM/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Freddie was great. Kids were great.
“Go back to your sunshine and traffic you hoser!” 😂
Marlon Nieves? #12 on Fangraphs’ prospect list. Do we know him?
I had to look him up…. Age 20. Pitched 36 innings at Rancho with an ERA of 2.24 and a WHIP of 1.04…. we’ll see…
Wasn’t on my radar. Now is. Wonder if Jeff has heard of him.
Maybe we can include him in the Roman Anthony deal
We could declare him untouchable and then trade one untouchable for the other.
Haha
The Blue Jays are ruining baseball! 😏
My Christmas Wish List:
Maybe we should wish for the Jays to miss the playoffs also. I don’t think we could be as lucky as we were last year twice in a row.
We could be if we land a few untouchables. Just need the right bait and a well timed jerk on the pole.
Yes, there was some luck involved in the Dodgers playoff run, so I’m hoping they add something to the offense, plus everyone in baseball knows AF has to strengthen the bull pen.
Cody Bellinger looks like he’s finally going to have a good off season. The Phillies threw their name in the hat, according to Jeff Passan, the Phillies, Mets, Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, and those pesky Blue Jays, all have shown some level of interest in Bellinger. I’m happy for Cody. He’s not the super star we thought we had in 2019, but he’s been pretty solid the last couple of years.
He might hit 40 home runs playing in that bandbox in Philly.
As much of a bandbox as Philly is it couldn’t be any more beneficial to Belli than playing in Yankee Stadium with that short right field to aim for.
Sometimes I get confused by many of the comments / replies I get with some of the players I want.
PCA is untouchable. Yet Jeff said he isn’t sure he would trade Pages straight up for him. Some have said they don’t even want him because of his disastrous second half in 2025. His post All Star game line was: .216.262.372.634 Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 60 | Arm: 55 | Field: 80 | Overall: 60
Roman Anthony is untouchable. Okay, I’ll admit Boston liked him enough to sign him to an 8-year, $130 million extension to stick with Red Sox. But he is only 21 and with only 257 career MLB at bats, he is unproven. He was drafted in round 2C as the 79 pick overall in 2022. Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 60 | Run: 50 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 60 Whereas DePaula’s Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 60 | Run: 45 | Arm: 50 | Field: 40 | Overall: 60 Boston has enough outfielders to wait for DePaula and could get a pitcher to help now.
Royce Lewis. Well due to his injury history, he is at least touchable.
Don’t touch him! You’ll probably hurt him.
He knees to stay healthy