Dodgers Inactive Offseason Among Biggest Surprises of the Winter
It's been a weird offseason for the Dodgers. While other teams were going crazy in the free-agent market, shelling out contracts of record length and record dollars, LA just kind of sat back and watched. They'd occasionally jump in and do something, signing a Noah Syndergaard here and a JD Martinez there, but Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Aaron Judge, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Carlos Rodon, and dozens of others rolled through the market with nary a glance from Los Angeles.
Over at MLB.com, Anthony Castrovince wrote about the biggest surprises of this offseason, and the Dodgers doing virtually nothing made his list at number six.
6. The Dodgers’ relative inaction.
With a bunch of big money off the books after 2022, the Dodgers could have put themselves at the forefront of free agency. Instead, they’ve made it clear that they are attempting to reset their luxury tax threshold penalty -- something that will be difficult to do now that we know they are on the hook for the bulk of Trevor Bauer’s '23 salary.
So instead of Verlander joining the rotation, it’s Noah Syndergaard. Instead of Turner at shortstop, it’s Miguel Rojas. Tyler Anderson, Andrew Heaney, Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger are all gone, and the Dodgers have conjured up memories of a 2014 Jason Heyward-for-Shelby Miller trade by signing ... Jason Heyward and Shelby Miller!
These are the Dodgers, winners of nine of the past 10 NL West titles and a model of drafting, developing and smart spending. So perhaps this will all work out well. But it’s still a strange -- and, yes, surprising -- look for L.A.
It is strange and surprising, but if you look at the specifics, it starts to make sense. While it is weird that the Dodgers didn't sign any of the big free agents, each one makes sense on its own. Five years at record money for deGrom, whose arm is showing signs that the human body isn't supposed to be able to do what he does? No thanks. Nine years and $360 million for Aaron Judge, who is almost 31 and has played more than 70 percent of his teams games just three times in his second seasons? Nah.
Really, if you look at all the contracts that were eventually signed, Carlos Correa is probably the only one that would have made sense for the Dodgers from a longterm baseball standpoint, and he, of course, has other baggage that might have kept them out of the bidding.
LA has young players who are ready to contribute, so they needed room for them. They're trying to get under the luxury tax to reset the penalties. They're still likely to win 95+ games even after the inactive offseason. There are plenty of reasons their approach this winter makes sense.
But that doesn't mean it wasn't surprising.
