THE year 2024 It couldn’t have gone much better for him. Dodgers.
They won their first World Series all season since 1988, and second (including their 2020 title shortened in case of pandemic) over the past five seasons. They were turned on and off the land by Shohei Ohtaniwhich met all expectations in the first season of its $700 million contract over 10 years. And heading into the new year, they know they’ll be looking to achieve dynasty status in 2025, trying to become the fifth franchise in MLB’s live ball era to win three championships in six years.
Already this offseason, they have started to position themselves with several important moves. They signed two-time Cy Young Award winners Blake Snell. They held the outfielder Teoscar Hernández and best reliever Blake Treinen. They even expanded the key utility Tommy Edman. As a result, at this early stage they are the clear favorites to defend their title next season.
But there’s still a lot to do before the team reports to spring training in early February.
Learn more: Shaikin: By re-signing Teoscar Hernández, the Dodgers further raise the financial stakes
As the calendar turns to 2025, here are four New Year’s resolutions for the club.
A new contract for Dave Roberts
When Craig Counsell was lured away from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Chicago Cubs last offseason, it set a new benchmark for executive salaries. Five years, $40 million, $8 million a year.
This winter, the Dodgers manager Dave Roberts might be about to break it.
The Dodgers are expected to negotiate a lucrative contract extension with their longtime skipper this offseason, ahead of what would be the final year of the three-year extension. he signed in 2022.
And just a year after Counsell redefined executive contract expectations, Roberts has the credentials to turn the market around.
Roberts’ nine seasons in Los Angeles were marked by ups and downs, but his entire resume speaks for itself: eight division titles, four National League pennants, two World Series titles and the highest winning percentage in MLB history by a non-Negro Leagues manager.
The 2024 campaign may also have been Roberts’ most impressive feat, as he helped the team through a litany of throwing injuries and a busy playoff launch plan to join franchise icons Tommy Lasorda and Walter Alston as a multiple World Series winner.
The question now: How much will the Dodgers reward him?
Learn more: Plaschke: Fans are heard, title hopes are solidified, Teoscar Hernández is back with the Dodgers
Roberts’ impact, after all, goes beyond the field, or even the clubhouse. He is effectively the leader of the entire organization, his twice-daily media availability making him one of the publicly visible faces of the club. He is also a key liaison between the Dodgers and the community, regularly engaged for team charity events, pre-game meetings with sponsors and special guests, and much more.
Dodgers executives said they would first focus on meeting their team’s needs this offseason before entering into negotiations with Roberts. But as the calendar changes, that moment appears to be drawing near, with a new contract for their manager – one expected to rival, if not surpass, Counsell’s record-breaking one – remaining one of the last big boxes of their winter work. list.
Landing of Roki Sasaki
It will probably be at least two more weeks before Roki SasakiThe 23-year-old star pitcher who joins the MLB from Japan next season, decides which big league club he chooses to sign with.
Joel Wolfe, Sasaki’s agent at Wasserman Media Group, said at winter meetings that the pitcher – who will be limited to signing a minor league contract with a modest signing bonus, since he is not yet 25 years old – will wait until the 2025 international signing period opens on January 15, when which the clubs will have bonus money. to sign it.
In the meantime, Sasaki’s list of potential destinations has become increasingly clear.
As planned, Dodgers officials met with the right-handed pitcher before the holiday, according to people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly. Five other teams are known to have also met with Sasaki: the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants. It’s likely that Sasaki’s full roster of fixtures was also longer, with other teams like the San Diego Padres considered suitors for his services. The Philadelphia Phillies are the only known team to have been denied a game.
Throughout much of the industry, the Dodgers are still considered the favorites to land Sasaki.
Their interest in him dates back to last offseason, when there was brief hope among some in the organization that Sasaki would return to MLB for the 2024 season. Entering this offseason, the Dodgers also had the most money remaining in their international signing pool for 2024; an indication to some around the sport that they were saving funds to sign Sasaki.
Ultimately, however, Sasaki decided to wait until 2025 to sign his deal with MLB — a decision Wolfe said Major League Baseball preferred “to make sure it would be a fair and fair playing field.” fair for everyone.
Wolfe strongly denied speculation that Sasaki already has a “predetermined” deal with the Dodgers or any other team.
Learn more: Teoscar Hernández agrees to three-year, $66 million contract with Dodgers
Nonetheless, the Dodgers are still considered the most logical landing spot for Sasaki, given their status as reigning World Series champions, the presence of other Japanese stars – and Sasaki’s WBC teammates – Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamotoand their long experience in pitch development.
If they draft him, at what would effectively be a league minimum salary, it would only strengthen an injury-prone rotation that was one of the team’s only weaknesses last season.
Complete the list
Earlier this offseason, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has set an ambitious goal for the Dodgers’ 2025 roster.
“My goal is not to buy in July,” Friedman said, long wary of what he sees as inflated prices for players at the midseason trade deadline. “I’m putting this out there right now. My goal is to do everything we can right now to not buy in July.
To do that, the Dodgers still have a few areas of depth to address.
The bullpen is the largest, with the team still interested in adding another high-leverage reliever. Their quest to trade for All-Star closer Devin Williams was unsuccessful, with the Milwaukee Brewers instead dealing the right-hander to the New York Yankees earlier this offseason. But other big-name options remain available on the free agent market, headlined by stalwart left-hander Tanner Scott (who, while with the San Diego Padres in the postseason, was the only reliever to having succeeded on several occasions in limiting Ohtani).
Fan favorites like Kiké Hernández and Joe Kelly are also still in free agency and could be return options if the Dodgers are looking for more roster or bullpen depth.
A member of the 2024 team whose return seems more unlikely is Jack Flahertywho will likely have to look elsewhere to find the lucrative long-term deal he would be looking for. Even though the Dodgers relied heavily on Flaherty – who arrived last season as sort of deadline acquisition Friedman was hoping to avoid – as of October, their 2025 rotation is currently stacked. Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yamamoto, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May should be ready for Opening Day. Ohtani will return to pitching at some point early in the season. And Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Clayton Kershaw (who is expected to be re-signed) will also be able to provide depth.
Repairing throwing injuries
While the Dodgers’ pitching depth may seem safe at the moment, much of that will depend on whether they can avoid the injuries that have ravaged their team over the past two seasons.
Learn more: Analysis: Why October hero Walker Buehler was always likely to leave the Dodgers
The increase in pitching injuries is not exclusive to the Dodgers, and has become such a concerning trend in the sport that MLB commissioned a study on the situation that was released a few weeks ago.
The results, however, provide few concrete answers, other than confirmation that the risk of injury increases as pitching speed increases.
The Dodgers have focused on their own injury issues this offseason. “We’re going to spend a lot of time on our pitching and our injuries and just trying to wrap them up more,” Friedman said.
But at this point, it’s unclear what concrete changes the organization plans to make, leaving pitching injuries as a major issue to address as the new year begins.
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This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
