ESPN Insider Heaps Praise on Dodgers for A+ Offseason

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had an undeniably unbelievable offseason.

Cy Young award winners, October heroes, international phenoms, and proven veterans have all joined forces this offseason to link up in Los Angeles on the quest to become baseball's first back-to-back champions in a quarter-century.

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As expected, the baseball world has taken notice at this dominant offseason on the heels of a World Series victory.

ESPN's baseball insider David Schoenfield gave his final grades for each team's offseason, and the Dodgers received the exact grade one would expect: An A+.

Things are going great for a team when signing a two-time Cy Young award-winning pitcher isn't the clear-cut best move of the offseason.

As fans saw Tuesday evening, 23-year-old Roki Sasaki looks exactly as advertised, tossing three scoreless innings and fanning five batters in his highly anticipated Cactus League debut.

Roki Sasaki looked dominant in his Cactus League debut for the Dodgers:

3 IP
2 H
0 ER
1 BB
5 K

He had eight swings and misses, touched 99.3 mph and his splitter was nasty.pic.twitter.com/Q1C5W0CT08
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) March 5, 2025

That is not to say that Blake Snell isn't going to be an instant difference maker in the rotation, but Sasaki's age plus extremely thrifty deal makes him that much more valuable.

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Schoenfield also noted that the Dodgers filled a glaring gap last season that was the bullpen.

The unfortunate mix of injuries plus no designated closer on the roster led to the top southpaw reliever on the free agent market in Tanner Scott, as well as a guy Shoenfield pegged as the second-best right-handed reliever last season in Kirby Yates joining L.A.

Other moves include re-signing Teoscar Hernández, Clayton Kershaw, Blake Trienen, and Kiké Hernández, signing NLCS MVP Tommy Edman to a five-year extension, and adding KBO standout Hyeseong Kim and outfielder Michael Conforto.

All of these moves will hopefully be worth upping the payroll $63 million this season for the defending World Series champs.

The last move the Dodgers need to make, according to Schoenfield, is to extend the contract of manager Dave Roberts. The skipper has proven that he is worth being the highest-paid manager in MLB after leading the Dodgers to a second World Series championship in his tenure.

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For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.