Dodgers News: Winter Meetings Recap

12/12/2024 02:54 PM

The 2024 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings are coming to a close today, and the Los Angeles Dodgers were among the most active teams at this year’s meetings in Dallas, Texas.

However, even though the meetings are over, what happened, and what did we learn about the Dodgers’ plans for the rest of the winter as the team prepares for the upcoming 2025 season?

Dodgers Bring Back Treinen, Sign Michael Conforto

The Los Angeles Dodgers kicked off their offseason last week when the organization signed top left-handed starting pitcher Blake Snell to a massive 5-year, $182 million contract (which looks like a bargain in retrospect). This added much-needed depth to their starting rotation, which was riddled with injuries this past season.

However, the team was also aggressive early at the Winter Meetings, signing former New York Mets and San Fransisco Giants Michael Conforto to a 1-year, $17 million contract and re-signing veteran relief pitcher Blake Treinen to a 2-year, $22 million deal.

The decision to sign Conforto was surprising as, at the time, the team was still considered one of the favorites to land four-time all-star Juan Soto, who would later sign with the New York Mets for an ungodly 15-year, $765 million deal.

However, according to Dodgers insider David Vassegh, the Dodgers were looking to add a left-handed hitting outfielder, and Conforto fits that bill.

In his second and final year in the Bay, the lefty had a .237/.309/.450 slash line with a 112 wRC+. Despite struggling in the first half of the 2024 season, it ended the year strong with a 140 wRC+ in August and a 132 wRC+ in September/October.

Defensively, Conforto, 31, is near the bottom of the league in OAA, ranking in the 17th percentile, but would do fine in a more forgiving Dodger Stadium outfield.

The Dodgers also re-signed Blake Treinen after both sides expressed the intent to reunite after the World Series.

After missing nearly two years with a nagging shoulder injury, Treinen pitched a full season with the Dodgers this year. He appeared in fifty games during the regular season and recorded a stellar 1.93 ERA and a 7–3 record.

His postseason performance was equally impressive, with clutch appearances in the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series. Treinen's consistency helped the Dodgers secure their second championship in five seasons, cementing his legacy as a key player during the team's recent golden era.

Blake also gets a nice pay bump as the righty was on the books for $1 million last year.

Teoscar Hernández Contract Situation

Atop the Los Angeles Dodgers’ to-do list, this offseason was re-signing Teoscar Hernández. However, with the team invested in all-star outfielder Juan Soto until this past Sunday, a Hernández reunion was placed on the back burner.

However, with Soto signed and Tyler O’Neill inking a multi-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles, Hernández is arguably the best outfielder on the free-agent market.

In his lone year in Dodger Blue, Hernández became a fan favorite and had a career-year hitting .272/.339/.501, a .840 OPS, and a 134 wRC+ while also hitting a career-high in home runs with thirty-three and driving in ninety-nine runs.

With his performance, Hernández also started the 2024 All-Star Game, became the first Los Angeles Dodger player to win the Home Run Derby, and was instrumental in the Dodgers' eighth World Series title.

Due to that success, the Dodgers offered the 1-year,  $21.05 million qualifying offer, which Hernández rightly rejected.

Not much is known precisely as to what Hernández’s camp is looking for, but the best guess is a multi-year deal, but with the massive signing of Juan Soto, the right-handed slugger could theoretically have his demands go up.

This past week, Dodgers insider David Vassegh prematurely stated that the Dodgers and Hernández were close to agreement on a multi-year contract and were “nailing down” the final numbers.

However, despite both sides continuing to communicate, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic said no deal is imminent.

When Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Freidman was asked about this situation with Teoscar, he had this to say:

It's hard for me to answer; He had a really good year. He put himself in a great position and I know he has talked about wanting to and I know that we have talked about him wanting to and he and his family get to go through the interest and figure out what makes the most sense for them. So while we're hopeful, at the same time, if he ends up signing somewhere else, we have no choice but to wish him well and on a personal level we'll be really happy for him and professionally not so much.

Despite more teams involved, such as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Hernández’s former team, the Toronto Blue Jays, it is universally perceived that Hernández and the Dodgers will come to some agreement, perhaps more than Los Angeles initially hoped.

Dodgers Profiling Top-End Relief Pitching

While the Dodgers have addressed a major need in their starting rotation with the signing of Blake Snell, it appears they also want to fortify their bullpen, specifically the backend.

According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to add a top-of-the-line relief pitcher to their bullpen and have circled lefty Tanner Scott and Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams.

Looking back at last season, the Dodgers bullpen was one of their strengths all season, including October, when they were a significant factor in the Dodgers' eventual World Series title.

Overall, the Dodgers bullpen pitched 648 innings, which was the fourth most in the National League, but still managed to rank third in ERA (3.53), second in WHIP (1.18), second in Batting Average (.220), and third in LOB% (73.5%).

However, the move makes sense as despite re-signing Blake Treinen, the Dodgers will be without Joe Kelly, who is a free agent, veteran right-handed pitcher Daniel Hudson, who retired after the World Series, Evan Phillips, who was left off the World Series roster, due to a shoulder injury, and it would be unwise to bank on Anthony Banda and Michael Kopech to replicate their 2024 seasons.

The Dodgers are clearly shopping high this offseason. Scott was atop the free agent leaderboards after a dominant two-year stretch, posting a 2.04 ERA in 150 innings for both the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres.

Williams, who is entering the final year with the Brewers and has been one of the best relief pitchers in baseball with a 1.83 ERA in 235 innings, will be a hot commodity after the Brewers declined the righty's $10.5 million option, forcing both sides to meet in arbitration.

Rōki Sasaki “Major Priority” for Dodgers

Entering the offseason, one of the league’s biggest questions in the international free agent market was whether young 23-year-old Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki would be posted. However, after weeks of back and forth between Sasaki and the Chiba Lotte Marines, both sides came to an agreement that the righty would be posted this winter.

Since Sasaki is under twenty-five and has less than six years of experience in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, he is limited to amateur international free agent status, meaning he can only sign a minor league contract with a team’s international pool money.

Sasaki is not expected to sign until the 2025 international amateur signing period begins on January 15th. He can negotiate throughout those forty-five days but needs to have a signed deal in place by January 23rd. If Sasaki does not sign by January 23rd, he will return to the NPB.

The fee is a flat 25% of the contract's value for players signed to minor-league contracts. Since Sasaki is not 25 years old and has played in NPB for three seasons, a deal for him would be counted toward the international bonus money restrictions. Under the new CBA, teams have at least $4.75 million to spend. Those with a Competitive Balance Round A receive $5.25 million, and those with a Competitive Balance Round B pick receive $5.75 million. Bonus pool money can be traded up to a maximum of roughly $10.1 million, per MLB.

It is no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter, have a massive advantage in the Japanese market. Sasaki is expected to be heavily pursued by most teams in the league, but according to most insiders, the overwhelming favorites are the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.

Regarding the international pool money for the 2025 signing period, which opens on January 15th, the Los Angeles Dodgers are one of four teams with the least money to spend, with an estimated $5.46 million.

The young 23-year-old righty has a record of 30-15 with a 2.02 ERA in 414.2 innings pitched in his four seasons in the NPB. He got a taste of major league talent when he helped Team Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

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