Initial Dodger Outlook 2023

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MLB Trade Rumors has the official status of each of the Dodgers who were on the roster at the end of the 2022 season.

From guaranteed contracts to free agents, nearly everyone we know is listed, and there are a couple I don’t know too.

Here’s the LA Times’ Houston Mitchell with his own roundup at Dodgers Dugout. Mitchell does a little more explaining of the rules and conditions for each status.

41 thoughts on “Initial Dodger Outlook 2023”

  1. In the latest edition of Dodgers Dugout from the LA Times, Houston Mitchell writes:

    Miami’s Sandy Alcantara was a unanimous winner of the Cy Young Award, with Julio Urías finishing third. This is not a debate about whether Urías or Alcantara should have won. You can make a strong case for either one. The problem with the voting was two-fold.

    First, that Urías finished third, behind Alcantara and Max Fried of the Braves. But the biggest problem was that of the 30 voters, eight of them did not have Urías on their ballot, which requires you to vote for the top five. How can eight people think that Urías was not one of the five best pitchers in the NL last season? The only conclusion I can draw is that they allowed eight people who have never watched baseball to vote.

  3. From The Athletic:

    Among hitters with at least 900 plate appearances over the last two seasons, no one has performed worse than Bellinger’s .611 OPS. Be it the byproduct of a celebration gone awry that required major shoulder surgery and limited his range of motion, or a broken leg on a freak play at first base in the first week of the 2021 season that altered his lower body in his stance, Bellinger’s offensive profile has seemingly only increased its volatility in the flaws of his game, only without the supreme, consistent power that made it worthwhile. He’s struggled to catch up to velocity, struck out more, walked less and struggled to hit the ball with the same thump that made him a quality hitter even in his dips earlier in his career.

  6. Should get a decision on Bellinger tomorrow. I can’t see spending $18M on Belli. Play the kids and Trayce. Upgrade at the trade deadline if necessary.

  11. Rule 5 Draft protection day is tomorrow.

    All 30 teams have until 6 p.m. on Nov. 15 to make decisions about their 40-man rosters. Some prospects will earn a coveted spot, some will not and will thus be eligible to be picked up by another team in the Rule 5 Draft, which will take place at the Winter Meetings in San Diego on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

    Players first signed at age 18 must be added to 40-man rosters within five seasons or they become eligible to be drafted by other organizations through the Rule 5 process. Players signed at 19 years or older have to be protected within four seasons. Clubs pay $100,000 to select a player in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft. If that player doesn’t stay on the 25-man roster for the full season, he must be offered back to his former team for $50,000.

    For this year, that means an international or high school Draft pick signed in 2018 has to be protected. A college player taken in the 2019 Draft is in the same position.

  16. Dodgers decline JTs option. Decision on Bellinger next. Oct 18 is deadline to non tender players.

  17. From Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic (FYI, if you’re an NYT subscriber I think access to The Athletic is part of your subscription):

    Carlos Correa: Would the Dodgers do it?

    Dodgers officials often have expressed concern their fans would not accept the addition of shortstop Carlos Correa, who is a free agent for the second straight year. Correa was part of the 2017 Astros team that, according to a finding by commissioner Rob Manfred, stole signs illegally throughout that postseason, and wound up defeating the Dodgers in the World Series.

    Well, now things get interesting.

    Correa, 28, not only is the youngest of the four big free-agent shortstops, but also should appeal to the Dodgers because the Astros extended a qualifying offer to him last season, making him ineligible to receive one a second time.

    Thus, the Dodgers could sign Correa without losing draft picks and international bonus pool money, as opposed to Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson, both of whom are virtually certain to receive qualifying offers. The Dodgers also are likely to extend a qualifying offer to their incumbent shortstop, Trea Turner, making them eligible for a pick after the fourth round if he departs.

    Correa probably will seek a longer contract than the Dodgers are willing to offer, but what if he would take the kind of short-term, high-dollar deal teams fancy to mitigate their risk? The guess here is that Dodgers fans might feel uncomfortable at first, but ultimately would welcome Correa as long as he performed at a high level.

    Fans want to win. Even if it means embracing a player they previously despised.

    .

    He’s probably right about that.

  19. Dodgers decline options on Hanser Alberto and Jimmy Nelson. Hanser should have been on the Dodgers post season roster instead of Gallo.

    • He’d have made no difference whatsoever. Gallo was a low-risk acquisition who didn’t work out.

  21. Trea Turner has to be the priority, then Kershaw. I can see Turner signing a two year deal, somewhere in the $22mil range that clarifies his time. After that, spend money on another front line starter and set up better for the playoffs, which seem inevitable.

        • Amusing digression: “Squeeze Me,” Carl Hiaasen’s latest, is a novel of pythons and politics in South Florida, and “Mastodon” is the Secret Service codename for the chief executive. Sample quotation: “After an awkward wait, Mastodon emerged from the bathroom breathing hard and red-faced from exertion. He snapped at his butler to fetch more ****ing laxatives.” I’ve been rolling on the floor in laughter.