Cody Snavely
With the 2024 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings officially underway in Dallas, Texas, the offseason stove is set to heat up, with multiple players set to join new teams via free agency or trade this week.
One name that came off the board was top free agent 26-year-old Juan Soto, who inked a massive 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets that can reach upwards of $800 million due to escalators.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, despite spending well over one billion dollars last offseason, bringing in two-way superstar and now three-time Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani, and coming off a World Series Championship, were in the Soto sweepstakes until the very end, according to multiple insiders.
However, the Dodgers swung and missed on Soto, who now heads to Queens. What does this mean for the Dodgers’ plans for the rest of the winter meetings and the offseason?
Adding Outfield Depth Seems to Be the Plan
Before Juan Soto’s record-breaking deal was made public, the Dodgers showed their hand missing out on Juan Soto about an hour before the agreement was reported when the team reportedly signed 31-year-old outfielder Michael Conforto to a 1-year, $17 million contract.
Even when the Dodgers were heavily linked to Juan Soto and trying to re-sign Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers insider David Vassegh reported that the team was looking to add a left-handed-hitting outfielder, and Conforto fits that bill.
The risk of signing Conforto is low, even with the Dodgers committing $17 million, which may be an overpay for a bench/platoon bat to some fans.
However, Conforto has hit right-handed pitchers well in his career, posting a .257/.359/.479 slash line along with a .838 OPS and 128 wRC+. This past season in the Bay with the San Francisco Giants, the lefty posted reverse splits, hitting lefties better with a 145 wRC+ compared to a 102 wRC+ versus righties, a trend that the Dodgers hope to revert.
Another factor contributing to Conforto’s low numbers is the ballpark in which he played most of his games, Oracle Park, which is known as a pitching-friendly environment.
Last season, Conforto posted some of the league’s most extreme home and road splits, hitting .253/.323/.530 away compared to .216/.292/.341 in San Francisco.
In his second and final year in the Bay, the lefty had a .237/.309/.450 slash line with a 112 wRC+. Despite struggling in the first half of the 2024 season, it ended the year strong with a 140 wRC+ in August and a 132 wRC+ in September/October.
Defensively, Conforto, 31, is near the bottom of the league in OAA, ranking in the 17th percentile, but would do fine in a more forgiving Dodger Stadium outfield.
In terms of a fit, it makes sense why the Dodgers are interested in multiple outfield bats as Brandon Gomes, the Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager, stated that all-star Mookie Betts would be a full-time infielder, meaning they’ll need to stock up in their outfield core.
Even with the signing, both Mark Feinsand and Ken Rosenthal stated that this does not exclude the Dodgers from a potential Teoscar Hernández reunion.
However, the Dodgers will also look at more potential options to fill out the roster, as they have already been rumored with Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernández while also having Andy Pages and James Outman at their disposal.
Re-signing Teoscar Hernández is atop the Dodgers’ Priorities
With Soto off the board, the top available outfielder is Teoscar Hernández, who will have plenty of suitors over the next several weeks.
Numerous teams heavily invested in the Juan Soto sweepstakes will now turn their attention to Hernández. Multiple insiders have already reported that the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are at the forefront of stealing him away from Los Angeles.
At the start of the offseason, MLB Trade Rumors had Hernández predicted to get a 3-year, $60 million deal. That prediction made a lot of sense as Hernández will be entering his age thirty-two season, where there is a historic decline in terms of production.
Despite taking the one-year prove-it deal with Los Angeles last offseason, which saw him make the all-star team, win the Home Run Derby, and play a pivotal role in the Dodgers’ quest for their eighth World Series title, many clubs were still weary of offering a multi-year offer.
However, with the aftermath of the Soto sweepstakes, it is only logical that Hernández’s waiting has played into his hand. The Red Sox and Yankees have a clear need to spend money. The Yankees, who just made their first World Series appearance since 2009, need to find a replacement for Juan Soto’s production. The Red Sox will look to try and seal the deal with Hernández after they were unable to finish a multi-year offer for his services last winter.
At what point does the price and the years become too uncomfortable, even for the Dodgers? I would guess that Andrew Friedman and Co. don’t want to extend that fourth year or surpass the $80 million mark. But if a team like Boston or New York gets desperate and offers over $100 million, I find it hard to believe the Dodgers are getting close to that.
At the end of the day, money is not the be-all and end-all, and Hernández has made it known all summer that he would like to remain in Los Angeles.
This past week, David Vassegh also hinted that the two sides were close to an agreement, but that was later rebuffed by Ken Rosenthal, who stated that though both sides are interested in a reunion, there are still gaps in the process.
You Can Never Have Too Much Pitching
If it wasn’t clear last season, pitching depth does matter. After suffering massive blows to their starting rotation for back-to-back years, the Los Angeles Dodgers look to take a more methodical approach to addressing that problem for the 2025 season.
For starters, the team has hinted all winter that they will incorporate a six-man rotation. This rotation would allow Ohtani and Yamamoto to feel familiar, as Ohtani pitched once a week with the Los Angeles Angels, and Yamamoto pitched once a week during his time within the NPB.
Even after the signing of top left-handed pitcher Blake Snell, the Dodgers rotation still has plenty of question marks. Tyler Glasnow ended his season due to an elbow strain. Right-handers Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are each coming back after having Tommy John Surgery. Gavin Stone (shoulder) and River Ryan (elbow) will miss all of 2025 as they rehab from their surgeries.
And despite a near-for-certain return of veteran left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the lefty will miss most of the season as he rehabs from offseason toe and knee surgery.
So what’s next for the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching plans?
Well, to start, they could continue to look in the free agent market, but after signing Snell to a massive 5-year, $182 million deal, I’d say they are done big fish hunting, which means they’re a long shot on Max Fried and Corbin Burnes.
They could always look to re-sign right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler, who, despite closing out the World Series and having an enormous role for the Dodgers in October, is coming off a down season in which he posted an ERA over five.
The market for Buehler has been hot, with teams such as the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and most recently, the Chicago Cubs all checking in on the righty. Whether the Dodgers will match any potential multi-year offers remains to be seen.
Another option for the Dodgers that has been heavily rumored is the possibility of adding top international free agent, Japanese right-hander Rōki Sasaki.
Sasaki was officially posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines this morning on day one of the MLB Winter Meetings and will now have to sign with a Major League team within the forty-five-day window.
Regarding the international pool money for the 2025 signing period, which opens on January 15th, the Los Angeles Dodgers are one of four teams with the least money to spend, with an estimated $5.46 million. However, multiple insiders have stated that the Dodgers are still the overwhelming favorite.
On the trade market, the Dodgers could also look into Chicago White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet, whose team was heavily interested in this past deadline. However, another option could be veteran righty Sonny Gray, as the St. Louis Cardinals look to ship off any remaining trade chips as they retool their team. Gray signed a 3-year, $75 million deal last winter and is still owed $50 million over the next two seasons.
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