Dave Roberts Proud of Dodgers' Homegrown Talent in Wake of High-Spending Offseason
The main narrative surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers' offseason has been their huge spending on outside talent.
The narrative is not without merit: the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract in December, the largest in baseball history. Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million contract later that month, the largest ever afforded a major league pitcher. In between, the Dodgers traded for Tyler Glasnow and signed him to a 5-year, $137 million extension.
These big-name signings and additions are far from the only talent on the Dodgers' roster, however. Manager Dave Roberts pointed out that the Dodgers have a huge amount of homegrown players, who were either drafted by the Dodgers out of college or high school, or signed as international amateur free agents.
It's a point of pride for the organization, and bears repeating in every discussion of the Dodgers' escalating player payroll.
According to Roster Resource, the Dodgers' 40-man roster consists of 15 homegrown players compared to nine who were signed as free agents. The rest were acquired via trades or waiver claims.
The homegrown players include several players integral to the fabric of the team: outfielder James Outman, shortstop Gavin Lux, catcher Will Smith, and starting pitchers Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler.
One of their best homegrown players in recent years — former National League MVP and 10-time All-Star Clayton Kershaw — is also a strong candidate to re-sign.
So while the Dodgers have won many games on the backs of Freddie Freeman, who came from the Atlanta Braves, and Mookie Betts, who was previously with the Boston Red Sox, they do produce quite a number of talented players on their own merit. That won't change when Ohtani, Yamamoto and Glasnow pick up their share of the slack.
The Dodgers are able to do this in large part thanks to their well-run farm system, which is annually considered one of the best in MLB. Because they have drafted and developed well, the Dodgers have been able to combine big signings while funneling in their own talent to win at a higher clip than any team over the last decade.
