Cody Snavely
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been extremely busy this offseason, adding talent all over their roster, including two massive additions to their already dominant bullpen this past week.
The Dodgers are set to introduce left-handed relief pitcher Tanner Scott and Rōki Sasaki today at Dodger Stadium. Scott inked a massive 4-year, $72 million deal with the Dodgers this past weekend, causing an uproar on social media.
Quickly after that, Major League Baseball insider Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reported that the Dodgers and Vertan bullpen arm Kirby Yates came to a “tentative” agreement on a contract. The deal’s structure has not yet been reported, but I would bet it’s a 2-year contract.
Once the Scott deal is announced, the Dodger’s 40-man roster will be full, which means a corresponding roster move must be made before any other signing can be made official.
Saski’s contract gives the Dodgers roster flexibility. Since he was classified as a minor league free agent, he does not need to be added to the 40-man roster until the start of the 2025 regular season.
And while the 60-day injured list will open up on February 8th, which will clear a few sports as multiple pitchers on the Dodgers roster will be transferred there, the team must make some decisions before now and then.
That said, Nightengale is now reporting that the Dodgers are actively shopping their surplus of pitchers, mentioning Ryan Brasier as a likely candidate to get dealt.
Brasier, 37, is in the final year of his 2-year, $9 million contract, which he signed last winter and includes a $4.5 million base salary for the 2025 season.
The veteran righty missed a large chunk of the 2024 regular season due to a right calf strain, which he suffered in late April. Still, when Brasier was on the mound, he was dependable with a 3.54 ERA in twenty-eight innings pitched. However, it was still a downgrade from his 0.70 ERA during the 2023 regular season with the Dodgers.
Brasier is not the only name that will be mentioned over the next couple of weeks as the Dodgers look to fill a space on their roster. Dustin May is in his final year of arbitration with no minor league options remaining and has struggled to stay healthy for a full season. Tony Gonsolin missed the whole 2024 season but did post a 2.14 ERA during the 2022 regular season. Michael Grove, while talented, has struggled to replicate that success from the minors to the majors and could be favorable to a team craving pitching depth.
Los Angeles’s possibilities are endless, and when the team inevitably makes a trade, be sure to watch social media explode as the big bad Dodgers continue to ruin baseball.
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