A lot of signs are pointing to a relatively quiet and uneventful offseason for the Dodgers, but fans are remaining hopeful that something will happen at Winter Meetings, which officially kicked off on Sunday night.
The Dodgers actually haven’t been major players at the Meetings in their last few seasons. Last year, they signed Michael Conforto in Dallas, and the year before that Jason Heyward in Nashville, but because their targets are usually so high-profile, most of their notable moves have taken place in the aftermath. Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow all signed after everyone had gone back home.
But this year, they don’t seem to have any targets of that caliber or, if they do, there are caveats. Sure, they’ll remain opportunistic — they’ll probably make an offer to Kyle Tucker, but only if his free agency drags out, and the same can be assumed for Cody Bellinger — but they won’t be aggressive. They simply don’t have to be.
Dave Roberts confirmed that during his turn through the media circuit at Winter Meetings. He said, “There’s really no big splash we feel needs to be made.”
Dave Roberts sticks to Dodgers’ party line on a quiet offseason at Winter Meetings
It seems fair to assume that the front office will keep talking to the Cardinals, Guardians, or Twins about the likes of Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Steven Kwan, and Byron Buxton to try to fill their vacant corner outfield spot, but if any of their asking prices are too high, LA has internal options. They’re reportedly interested in Harrison Bader for the outfield and Robert Suarez for the bullpen, but unless they decide to give Suarez a bigger contract than Tanner Scott, neither of those moves would really qualify as a “big splash.”
The beauty of Andrew Friedman going overboard in his last two offseasons — at least for him — is that he gets to take it a little easier this time around. It’ll make for a snoozy few months for Dodgers fans, but it’s impossible to deny that they’re basically set outside of some much-needed new arms in the bullpen.
Of course, no one will ever rule them out entirely, and because they usually wait to make their most notable deals, some fans might not even be on high alert until next week, even though Winter Meetings can be the climax of the offseason for other teams.
Still, it’s easy to believe what Roberts has already said and what Friedman has alluded to. If they don’t need much, then maybe they won’t actually do much.
