What Happens Now: Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

 The Los Angeles Dodgers were expected to make a playoff run this year, but by the time Clayton Kershaw fell injured with a back problem, their chances looked grim, but somehow the Dodgers got all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS. Look, Dodger fans felt like they could have gotten to the World Series, but just getting to the NLCS was something incredible. This year in particular saw a record number of players on the DL, especially pitchers. Between August and October, pitchers like Julio Urias, Jose De Leon, Brock Stewart and Ross Stripling carried the load. The Dodgers had high expectations coming into this year with a number of star pitchers, but the season looked botched by the time the pitching rotation seemed depleted and still got far in the postseason.

Notable pitchers that were meant to make an impact this year were Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson, and Alex Wood. These players were hardly recognized this entire season and the Dodgers even had to drop a few prospects to grab players like Rich Hill and Josh Reddick because these players were so absent. If the Dodgers hadn’t been hit so hard by the injury bug, their season could have gone a lot differently, maybe they would be the ones in the World Series instead of the Cubs. There was really only one healthy starting pitcher this entire season and that was Kenta Maeda. Maeda played absolutely great this regular season, but he did drop a few games in the postseason.

For the upcoming season, the Dodgers as an organization are going to have to make a lot of difficult decisions because they are going to have a lot more starting pitchers than they will need. A lot of questions regarding the pitching rotation will be brought up and I predict that they won’t all be completely answered until the next season starts. Will Rich Hill stay with the Dodgers? Will he retire? Who will be in the starting rotation? Does Julio Urias become a full time starter now? What happens to players like Brett Anderson, Scott Kazmir, and Alex Wood? There will be a lot of anticipation regarding the starting rotation for the Dodgers in the upcoming season because they have so much talent on the mound and not enough positions to fill up all that talent.

Not only will the starting rotation create a lot of question, but so will the bullpen. Most notably, Kenley Jansen is a free agent, and it is still unclear where he might end up next season. Jansen is not the only free agent relief pitcher, so is J.P. Howell, Jesse Chavez, and Joe Blanton. It is unknown if the Dodgers will try to hold onto this star studded bullpen or try to dive into a more youthful form of a bullpen with a lot of prospects. I suspect that the Dodgers will try to hold onto players like Jansen, Howell, and Blanton, but maybe not Chavez. Unlike past seasons, the bullpen has been incredibly good and it would be in the Dodgers’ best interest to keep that stability in the bullpen because that was one of the main reasons why the Dodgers were able to get so far in the postseason.

So, the starting rotation and relief pitching are two great talking points, but how can we forget about the position players. First off, there are a few guys becoming free agents: Justin Turner, Chase Utley, and Josh Reddick. The Dodgers are going to give a huge contract to Turner because he has become an indistinguishable part of the Dodgers offense and defense. Chase Utley might get a contract, but it would be a one year contract and it will solely be on the part of Utley, if he wants to retire or stay competitive and guide Corey Seager to greatness. Lastly, Josh Reddick, Reddick will also get a contract that’s probably only one year because the Dodgers have only seen him play for half a season and they already have a number of solid outfielders. These outfielders include: Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier, Joc Pederson, Howie Kendrick (utility man), Enrique Hernandez (utility man), Scott Van Slyke (utility man), and Trayce Thompson. Reddick is better than a number of these players, but doesn’t compare to their future or their leadership skills. For example, Kendrick is a veteran that is good for the team as whole because he has been in the league for so long and Hernandez and Thompson are exciting young players that could have a future on the Dodgers. Puig, Pederson, and Ethier are all out of the question staying with the Dodgers for a couple of more years and will be starting for the most part.

Lastly, the Dodgers organization should be incredibly happy with their new head coach, Dave Roberts. It would not be a surprise to anyone if he were to win the NL Manager of the Year. Having that said, this was just his first year and he now can really begin his own era with the Dodgers and lead them hopefully to a future World Series.