With the Winter Meetings on the horizon, the rumors surrounding the Dodgers are flying. However, with someone as plugged in and reputable as Ken Rosenthal, these are not rumors — they are substantiated facts.
In a recent segment on MLB Network, Rosenthal extensively discussed what direction he sees the Dodgers going in this off-season and it appears he has a favorable view of the prospective outcome:
The Dodgers appear to be in the best position financially that they have ever been in under the Andrew Friedman regime.
“The Dodgers, under Andrew Friedman, have never been in this flexible of a payroll position. They are well under the luxury tax threshold and they have been under the last years. They have their penalty reset to the minimum, so in essence, they can do anything they want.”
The Dodgers can truly go in a variety of directions.
“Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon…in the free agent market or one of the big trade pieces, whether it’s Betts or Bryant or Lindor if a trade can be made for any of those players. Whether they will do anything or not remains to be seen. Andrew Friedman, since taking over as the president of baseball operations, has not spent more than $55 million on a free agent from another team and not more than $93 million on one of his own free agents.”
The amount of moves they have made to get to this position is something that needs to be taken into account. If the Dodgers do not make a big splash, what was it all for?
“They have spent years, literally years, trying to get into this position. Remember the trade they made with Homer Bailey and Matt Kemp going to Cincinnati last year and all the dollars flying around? That is one of several they made for luxury tax reasons. They are poised, if they choose to, to do something big.”
Money is not an object to Guggenheim Baseball Management, but it sure seems like it has been in past years. This time around, something has to be done.
“They are the team that leads the major leagues in attendance and has led it for seven straight years. They also have a TV deal that is perhaps the most lucrative in the entire sport. Why work to this moment and not seize it?”
What do you think the Dodgers end up doing this off-season?
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