LOS ANGELES — Boy the Interwebs have been noisy in the last 48 hours. Talk of how your Los Angeles Dodgers have “ruined” baseball by opening up their too-fat wallet and lining their roster with top-flight talent that nobody can compete with. The fact that this team only banked 93 wins in the regular season and finished the year with a 3 seed in the tournament seems lost on these cranks. Okay, let’s look at this systematically position by position. I think once we go through this, you’ll have plenty of evidence to throw in the face of any whiny haters out there.
We’ll go around the diamond, saving pitching for last.
Catcher: Will Smith
Not really much to complain about in this position. Both catchers who’ve been on the roster the longest this season are homegrown. Will Smith has been in the Dodgers lineup since he came up in 2019. His backup, Dalton Rushing, is also drafted by the Dodgers. Ben Rortvedt, who filled in admirably while Smith was on the IL, is a deadline acquisition that the team got for a song as as Lucky Strike extra in a deal that sent a couple of prospects to the Dodgers in exchange for Hunter Feduccia. Next?
First Base: Freddie Freeman
Yes, Freeman was a free agent. But the fact he ended up in Dodger blue owes more to the Braves’ intransigence and geographical coincidence than an aggressive pursuit. Everyone who followed the game knew that Freeman wanted to end his career in a Braves uniform. But after the 2021 World Series, it was clear that Alex Anthopoulous was interested in going younger and cheaper at first base. Hence the deal for local boy Matt Olson. As soon as that deal was struck, Freeman got frustrated with the Braves and decided he wanted to play near his Southern California home. And let’s face it, he wasn’t signing with the Angels. I mean, the dude has standards. So, the Dodgers swooped in, said thank you very much, and inked Freeman to a six-year deal. If Freeman had been born in Connecticut, he probably would be a Yankee or Met right now. Sorry guys.
Second Base: Tommy Edman
Tommy Edman was not a free agent at all, but a shrewd trade deadline acquisition. Spending most of last year on the IL, he was nevertheless somebody that Andrew Friedman had had his eye on for a while. He was exactly the kind of player that fit into the Dodger mold. Smart. Coachable. A Great Skill Set. High Baseball IQ. So when the Dodgers picked him up at the deadline, they were willing to wait until he was truly ready to play, having the luxury of a nice lead in the division at the time. It wasn’t until August 19 that he made his debut with the club. And we know what happened after that. Still, because of the injury the price wasn’t that high–he came over as a part of that three-team deal that sent Miguel Vargas to the White Sox in exchange for Michael Kopech. That’s not “buying” a great player; that’s being a savvy GM.
Third Base: Max Muncy
Muncy is the opposite of what the Dodgers are accused of. The dude was literally sitting on his couch after being DFA’d by Oakland when he got the call to join the Dodgers in 2017. And, if not for Justin Turner getting plunked in the wrist early in 2018, he might have been a DFA candidate for the Dodgers, too. But he got some playing time, and turned into a clutch performer, now leading the franchise in postseason homers. Again, this is the “Dodger Way”–identify assets that are undervalued in the marketplace and let the team’s first-class development staff go to work. Again, nothing to complain about here.
Shortstop: Mookie Betts
A lot of people think that Mookie was a free agent when he came to the team in 2020, but again, that’s just not the case. Very similar to Freddie Freeman, Betts was a victim of a front office’s penny-pinching ways. They knew Mookie was going to be a free agent at the end of the year, and decided to dump him and David Price to anyone who’d take the package deal and clear their contracts off the books. After the 2018 MVP was in the Dodgers’ orbit, it was a no-brainer to extend him, which they did before the Covid-shortened season even began. Sorry Red Sox Nation, you got taken to the cleaners on that one. Talk to John Henry about it.
Left Field: Kiké Hernández
The Dodgers rightfielder has been nails again in the postseason, but how exactly did this “big-spending” Dodger team acquire him? Well, the first time, it was a trade with the Marlins. The Dodgers traded infielder Dee Gordon, righty Dan Haren, shortstop Miguel Rojas and cash to Miami Marlins for lefty Andrew Heaney, righthander Chris Hatcher, catcher Austin Barnes, and Hernandez. Barnes and Hernandez would be vital parts of the run the Dodgers made in the late teens, and Rojas eventual found his way back to Chavez Ravine, so once again the Dodgers got the best of that trade. Then, they took a flyer on a struggling Hernandez in 2023, and acquired him from the Red Sox in the middle of the year. And it’s been “October Kiké” ever since. So what’s that? Profligate spending? Hardly!
Centerfield: Andy Pages
Pages is a homegrown product, who has admirably filled in in centerfield after the James Outman experiment flamed out after a promising start. And, it should be noted, that the Dodgers have Pages in center because they chose NOT to pursue Cody Bellinger when he came up for free agency in 2024. Belli’s back on track. Good for him. But stepping away from a struggling superstar was the best move for the Dodgers and for Bellinger at that point. Good on the Dodgers for sticking with a struggling rookie in 2024 and allowing him to find his sea legs at the big league level. He will likely be a big part of the Dodgers going forward for years to come.
Right field: Teoscar Hernández
Teoscar Hernandez is another case of buying low for the Dodgers. He had a horrible season with the Mariners in 2023 (just a .740 OPS, some of it, no doubt due to the ballpark). The Dodgers took a flyer on Teoscar, and it panned out nicely. Hernandez was able to leverage his one-year “show-me” contract into an extension, and hopefully will be having a few more big October moments before he moves on. But Hernandez was on the open market until January of 2024, available for anyone to make a play for. So if your team didn’t sign him, ask your GM about it instead of complaining about the Dodgers.
Pitchers: Snell, Glasnow, Yamamoto, Sasaki
Okay, here’s where most of the chatter was concentrated online. How can a team have amassed such great pitching? How?!! Well, let’s slow your roll a little bit. Let’s talk about each one individually.
- Blake Snell: Yes, he’s a big-time free agent, but he also had the chance to extend with San Diego or San Francisco. Other teams had clear lanes to sign him. But, the trump card in this game was the longstanding relationship that Andrew Friedman has had with Snell, dating back to his days in the Rays front office. It was a big deal, but pretty understandable when you put it in those terms.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto: This one, to me, is the most surprising of the bunch. I didn’t think that the front office could pull off Ohtani AND Yamamoto in the same offseason and thought that they might settle for Shota Imanaga. However, this was Friedman’s go-big-or-go-home moment. I guess he was shaken up from seeing Lance Lynn give up all those dingers in the NLDS to the Diamondbacks that he swore to himself “never again.”
- Tyler Glasnow: The injury-prone Glasnow was a trade acquistion, and until somewhere around last Tuesday, it seemed like the Rays had got the better of the Dodgers on this one. Ryan Pepiot turned into a solid and reliable starter, and Johnny DeLuca has had his moments in the Tampa Bay lineup. Meanwhile, Glasnow seemed to spend most of his time on the IL. He made only 22 starts in 2024, and spend the postseason on the IL. This season, it was even fewer starts–just 18. But the Dodgers managed his injury perfectly and he’s at his best in October.
- Roki Sasaki: Again, a guy who looked like a high-priced bust for most of the year. His early season struggles with command seemed intolerable, and his extended need to rehab his shoulder injury led many to wonder if this guy wasn’t an even bigger head case than Glasnow. But again, slow and steady wins the race, and Sasaki has emerged as a “secret weapon” out of the pen at a time when the pen was in desperate need of any kind of weapon.
Two-Way Player: Shohei Ohtani
Of course here’s where most of the bitching comes in. Fans are just apoplectic that the Dodgers have Ohtani and not them. Well, tough. The Angels could have re-signed the guy if Arte Moreno wasn’t such a cheapstake and put a quality team around him. Once they were out of the picture, who else but the Dodgers would come along and scoop him up? I mean, the dude isn’t going to sign with the Royals, for goodness sake. The phantom jet to Toronto may or may not have been a possiblity, but it just made sense for a guy like Ohtani to be on the West Coast. And once you narrow it down to those teams, the math gets pretty easy. Seattle and San Francisco might have had a shot, but I can’t see Ohtani as a Padre. Can you? It just made sense for a media-savvy guy like Ohtani to make LA his base of operations. He’s guaranteed October baseball while still in his prime, and he doesn’t have to push the boulder uphill like he had to in Anaheim. Plus, he’s as close to Japan as you can get and still play American baseball. Now there are those who will complain about the “Guggenheim payment plan” with the massive deferrals. But it was all done within the rules. If you don’t like it change the rules with the next CBO. Otherwise, zip it!
Conclusion
In a recent on-the-field interview, Andrew Friedman called the whole “ruining baseball” story a “lazy narrative.” And, I hope after reading this article, you can see that it’s exactly that. The Dodgers built this juggernaut through smart player acquistions and top-flight player development and analytics.
So next time your owner complaints about the Dodgers, ask yourself why YOUR billionaire owner isn’t doing the same thing. Take a look in the mirror, MLB. You are the problem, not the Dodgers.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
