This is a pure guessing game. Ohtani had a monster season for the Dodgers, then got injured in the World Series and was not a major factor other than his presence in the Dodger lineup.
The clear star was Freddie Freeman, with a huge assist by the Dodgers bullpen corps, which shut down almost all of the Yankees attempts at comebacks. Max Muncy and Gavin Lux had very forgettable series.
I really believe that Max is going to have a bounce back season. He can deliver a lot of offense when right. To me he has a lot of reasons to play much better. But I do not expect him to be the player with the best year. Just not in his DNA.
I also do not expect Shohei to have the same type of year. Oh, I believe he will crush at least 40 homers and drive in 100 or more. But I think his stolen base total comes down some. If he is indeed pitching every sixth day, he will certainly be hitting also leaving LA without a DH if he is removed from the game if I have the rules right.
I also expect more of the same from Teo. Not having to worry about a contract and knowing he is here for a while will give this guy peace of mind. He loves playing in LA and he loves his teammates, and he especially loves winning. I expect close to or a little higher number from him this season.
Mookie is Mookie. He is 32 now, so he will probably slow down a little. I do think he will hit 20 plus homers as long as he stays healthy. We will have to wait and see how playing SS everyday affects his body.
I expect two players to improve upon last year’s numbers, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman. Smith had a stretch last season where he was unstoppable and just as suddenly, Will could not buy a hit. He is just too good of a hitter to struggle at the plate that long.
Smith is a .248 hitter at home over his career. He fell to .220 last season. He was hitting .272 his first 80 games. He hit .206 the rest of the way, also losing much of his power production. He hit only 5 homers in his last 48 games. His overall OPS dropped 66 points from where he was in 23.
But the guy I believe will have the best season is Freddie Freeman. Freeman had an un-Freeman like season in 24. First off, he missed 15 games, mostly because of his son’s illness. He hit. 282, his lowest average since 2015.
His slugging percentage dropped below .500 for the first time since 2015. But because of the type of hitter, he is, and the way he prepares himself, I expect Freeman back over .300 with a little more slug this year. Who is your choice?
Hard to know what to expect from the new guys, Kim and Conforto. Edman will be Edman, playing all over the diamond when he is not in CF. I hope we see improvement from Pages. He did have some moments when the promise showed.
If Chris Taylor is indeed still with the team, and healthy, I think he improves on his numbers some. He should be closer to his career avg of .250, of course he will still strike out a lot, but his solid defense is what the team covets. Barnes will probably not hit .260 again, but if Smith improves as much as I believe, he won’t need to.
Next time we will see how you guys feel about the pitching staff.
According to CBS Sports, the Dodgers are still very interested in re-signing Kershaw. According to Gomes, Kersh is still not throwing off of a mound yet. LA looks to re-sign him when he is finished with his rehab.
I would love to see Outman come into spring training with a vengeance and put the centerfield question to bed moving Edman to SS & Betts to 2B. Other than that it would not surprise me if Conforto had a big year hitting in that lineup.
The way the rule was explained to me on the pitcher who is the DH is removed as the pitcher can still be in the lineup as the DH. I could have that wrong.
I was looking at the lineup the other day and I have a feeling that next year, Taylor will be back on a one-year deal, maybe with an option for a second year.
Knowing who will definitely leave the team next year, a good utility will be needed, especially for the outfield.
Kershaw is 32 K’s short of 3000. He needs to accomplish that in a Dodger uniform. Profar signed with Atlanta because of all the turmoil in Padre’s ownership. Sasaki did the same. Are the Pads in serious trouble?
Andy Pages is my pick to take off this season. Why? I don’t know; maybe it’s this red wine I”m having.
Either way, I’ll be rooting for Washington and KC today. Again, no reasons but friends root for those teams so I’d be happy for them. Also I find all things Philly irritating.
Cubs finalizing a trade with Houston for closer Ryan Pressley, who waived his no-trade clause. Seems like the Stros will send some money to offset his 14-mil pact. Stros will receive at least one prospect in the deal. Eagles crushing DC. I can’t wait until spring because they you find out every players #. They currently have Conforto wearing #30. That is Roberts #.
Trevor Bauer is going back to Japan to pitch for Yokohama next season. Pitched there in 2023 and then in Mexico last year. Now back to Japan, which I guess you could consider a promotion.
If he has a good year over there, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if some team gave him a shot back here in 2026. As with everything else these days, half the country would hate him and the other half would say no big deal.
Pitchers and catchers report in two weeks. Players who were injured can report too I believe.
I’m picking Outman as best relative to the base he will begin the season.
Jacob Amaya was DFAd by the Orioles who took a chance and signed Dylan Carlson.
I think we need a legit centerfielder and move edman I to play shortstop and move Betts over to second base make Kim and Rojas be tge backup infielders to give the starters rest some days. I don’t think Pages or Outman are the answer so at trade deadline it will be find a legit centerfielder and maybe a thirdbase if Muncy isn’t fielding well and what to do with Barnes and Taylor tgere both taking up spots where you coukd get legit players to help this team like a kike and rushings be nice to have those two players on the bench.
So this is kind of exciting, as reported in TrueBlueLA:
The highest reported signing bonus aside from Sasaki was $365,000 for Panamanian pitcher Adrian Torres, reported by Francys Romero. Ben Badler at Baseball America noted, “For some scouts, he’s the best LHP in the 2025 international class.”
There’s no telling which prospects live up to the hype, of course. But Torres joins 17-year-old Joseph Deng Thon, a 6-7, 185 pound pitcher from South Sudan, as new Dodgers to follow in the next few years. (Previous reports had his last name as Deng. Not clear if it will be Deng or Thon going forward, but he already throws in the mid-90s and hasn’t stopped growing.)
And let’s not forget Torres’s countryman Oliver Gonzales, who was 17 when the Dodgers acquired him last season as part of the 3-team deal that also netted Edman and Kopech. The Cardinals had signed Gonzales for $400K, so he might be a very good lottery ticket. Heck, he might turn out to be better than Edman and Kopech.
The Dodgers may have the best–certainly the deepest–rotation in the game right now. But the future looks bright too.
For those of you who like to follow the prospects, here’s a link to an interview with Geoff Pontes of Baseball America which focuses on how they do their rankings and then gets into detail on a number of Dodger prospects.
I know that Jeff is a big Baseball America fan so Jeff, if you see this and haven’t caught the interview, please take a look.