Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — As we near the end of the 2022 regular season, everybody has a tendency to look back over the year, take a deep breath, and assess: what worked out, what didn’t, what needs improvement, etc. Well, one of those things for the Dodgers must surely be an assessment of the many free agents they opted not to sign this year. Were those good decisions? Let’s take a look at how these “old friends” fared in their new environments, and see if the Dodgers made the right call in cutting them loose.
Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
The biggest name that the Dodgers let walk over the offseason of course was World Series MVP Corey Seager, who signed a mega-deal with the Texas Rangers. And, I’m guessing most folk in north Texas are thinking they didn’t get their money’s worth this season. Corey had good power numbers — he’s had 32 homers so far. But his average is at a career low .247, and his OPS is just a so-so .780. The Rangers will need to get back to relevance in the next few years for this deal to make sense for them. As for the Dodgers, Seager’s exit allowed Trea Turner to switch to short and Gavin Lux to get more playing time at second, so I don’t think they’re regretting the move at all. Now, if they can lock down Trea for another six years or so…..
Kenley Jansen, Atlanta Braves
What can we say? Kenley is Kenley. No longer the lockdown closer he was five years ago, you see what you get with Kenley. Sometimes he’s great. Sometimes, he blows a three-run lead in the 9th. He’s got an ERA of 3.51 this year, and 37 saves, so it’s not all bad. But, he’s had seven blown saves this year, nearly matching his career high in that stat (he had 8 blown saves in 2019). And if the chalk holds up, the Dodgers haven’t seen the last of Kenley Jansen. Very possibly they will see Kenley and the Braves in the NLDS, which would make for some very interesting baseball drama indeed.
AJ Pollock, Chicago White Sox
Technically not a free agent deal, but a departure nevertheless. Pollock was traded toward the end of Spring Training to the White Sox for recently deposed closer Craig Kimbrel. Hard to say who’s got the better part of this deal. Kimbrel’s been a constant source of frustration for Dodger fans, but AJ has been a bit of a disappointment for the Southsiders as well. He missed a bit of the season with injury, but still has appeared in 131 games for the White Sox. Pollock’s .247/.293/.395 slash line for Chicago is considerably off the numbers, he put up last season in LA. So, we’ll call this deal a wash.
Joe Kelly, Chicago White Sox
This one is a no-brainer. Much as we love the fact that Mariachi Joe buzzed the tower on Carlos Correa in 2020, it was absolutely the right move not to re-sign him. In his first year of a two-year deal with the ChiSox, Kelly has been downright awful. He’s posted a 6.23 ERA over 40 appearances, and has a way too high WHIP of 1.56. He’ll always have a place in the hearts of Dodger fans, but I’m glad he doesn’t have a place on the Dodgers’ roster.
Corey Knebel, Philadelphia Phillies
It was originally envisioned that Knebel would be the savior of the Phillies’ shaky bullpen, and he started the 2022 season in the closer’s role. After a good April, Knebel started to struggle (Dodger fans will remember it was Knebel who was on the mound when the team walked off the Phillies in May). By mid-June, he was out of the closer’s role. He hasn’t been horrible this year (a 3.43 ERA and 12 saves), but as with his tenure in Dodger Blue, the struggle was keeping him healthy. In mid-August, Knebel was shut down with a shoulder issue, and hasn’t pitched ever since. His season is over. Given Evan Phillips and Yency Almonte have both been great righthanders out of the Dodgers’ pen this year, I doubt anyone in the front office is pining for Knebel.
Max Scherzer, New York Mets
It might have been nice to sign Max Scherzer after his rental period in 2021, but when you hear Scherzer talk about his time in LA, it was clear that he wasn’t happy with how he was used down the stretch. Whether or not it had anything to do with his “dead arm” situation in the NLCS we’ll never know, but whatever went down, it’s pretty clear that he wasn’t going to be a Dodger for long. As for 2022, what can you say? Scherzer was great with LA, and is still great. He’s been injured a bit this year, so is ineligible for any postseason award, but when he was on the mound, he was still pitching at a Cy Young level: a 2.13 ERA and 0.88 WHIP over 22 starts so far. Just hope he has an off day if the Dodgers face the Mets in the NLCS. Maybe Dead Arm, Part II?
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
The Dodgers love Tío Albert, and the feeling was mutual, but it was absolutely the right move not to sign him for 2022. With the Dodgers adding Freddie Freeman to the mix, he certainly wasn’t going to get any reps at first, and as for DH, the Dodgers needed to use that spot to give the occasional rest to guys like Justin Turner and Will Smith. He wouldn’t have had as many at-bats with the Dodgers and certainly wouldn’t have been able to reach the 21 homers he needed to get to 700. No, much better that he went back to where it all started and make his peace with the fans of St. Louis. But it has turned out to be much more than a farewell tour for him. Albert has been a crucial part of the Cards’ second half surge to take control of the NL Central and leave the Brewers in the dust. I’m not sure St. Louis even makes a Wild Card without Pujols. So, while it would be nice to have Pujols around the Dodger clubhouse, the Baseball Gods got it right to let the Machine finish out his career in a Cardinal uniform.
Conclusion
So, it looks very much like on balance the Dodgers were right to say goodbye to these guys from the 2021 team. Except for Scherzer, I can’t think of one player from this list that would make the Dodgers a better team than they are now if they put up the same season in Dodger Blue. So, yet again, we reach the inevitable conclusion: Andrew Friedman knows what he’s doing.
