LAS VEGAS— It seems almost everyone in baseball is waiting to see how aggressive the players are. Dodgers This will be the off-season.
At the moment this appears to include two-time defending champions themselves.
As the club's management arrived at the Cosmopolitan Hotel this week for MLB's annual general managers meeting, the team's plans for this winter remained in the formative stages.
The Dodgers should have plenty of financial flexibility to play with in the coming months, as last season's payroll will be more than $60 million (as a result Clayton Kershawretirement, contract expiration of Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech and others, and team decision appoint Tony Gonsolin for last week's assignment).
They could also use upgrades at some of the deepest positions in this year's free agent class, namely corner outfielder (where Kyle Tucker tempts as the biggest name) and another top anchor in the back end of the bullpen (where Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez and Pete Fairbanks will be on the open market).
Add in a farm system that MLB Pipeline rated the best in the majors this year, giving the Dodgers plenty of chips to use in a potential deal, and the team could be poised for another strong offseason with high-profile acquisitions.
Or…they could stand relatively straight.
After all, there's no blockbuster the Dodgers like. need do this winter. With virtually all of their star capital assets intact, even compared to last winter, their urgency for another offseason with the stars may well be less pressing now.
That was the general manager's tone Brandon Gomez hit Tuesday during a discussion of the team's winter plans, acknowledging that the outfield and bullpen are areas the Dodgers will explore this winter but stopped short of calling either a “need.”
“Thanks to being aggressive the last couple of offseasons, we have a really, really good core,” Gomez said. “So we continue to tweak and look at the weaknesses in the roster and try to address them… We're very focused on who we go out and look to acquire. I think that's fair across the board, without a lot of glaring holes.”
To recap, here's what the Dodgers' 2026 roster looks like.
Starting rotation? The roster includes Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Rocky Sasaki, Emmett Sheehan and a host of other young pitchers expected to return (including Gavin Stone and River Ryan, both 2024 starters who are expected to have a normal offseason after missing last year due to surgery).
Compound? Relatively unchanged: Kiké Hernandez and Miguel Rojas represent the only out-of-contract players who played significant roles in the postseason (and they, of course, can be re-signed as well).
BULLPEN? This group Of course, some more help would be niceafter Tanner Scott competed for a closer role last year. But even there, the Dodgers still have plenty of depth in Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda, Jack Dreyer, Blake Treinen, Ben Kasparius, Justin Wrobleski, Brock Stewart, Edgardo Enriquez and a number of other young pitchers who could step into major league roles (plus the return of Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips from injury).
And overall, Gomez described the Dodgers' expected 2026 pitching lineup as “as good as it's ever been.”
That's why, at least for now, the Dodgers' aggressiveness this winter remains unclear.
As an organization, they are in their preferred location – able to see how the market develops without being faced with an overwhelming need for one location.
“I think we still have to approach the offseason and not go out and make big trades at the deadline,” Gomez said. “But what does it all look like? Luckily, we haven't had a lot of time to dive into it, but we'll try to get it done here this week and in the coming weeks.”
Tucker's pursuit of the team could be the first big event of the offseason.
Back in the summer, the Dodgers were considered the industry favorite to land the four-time All-Star and two-time Silver slugger. As a left-handed bat who would fit perfectly in the middle of their lineup, and someone who will only be 29 years old by early next year, Tucker represented a star-caliber player who is still in his prime and who the Dodgers always want to be able to pursue when he's available.
However, Tucker won't come cheap. He'll likely get 10-plus year offers. He could launch a trade war of $400 million to $500 million.
For all the short-term financial flexibility the Dodgers have, it's fair to wonder how many more lucrative long-term deals they want to add to what is already an aging core.
Thus, the higher the price for Tucker, the less likely it is that he will end up in Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, Gomes spent more time touting the interior outfield options the Dodgers already boast, from the deadline addition of Alex Call to relievers Hyesung Kim and Tommy Edman (who will have surgery next week on a nagging ankle injury but will hopefully be ready for spring training), triple MVP Ryan Ward, who was added to the 40-man roster last week and is expected to “get a ton of opportunities at some point this year,” Gomez said. The door also remains open for backup catcher Dalton Rushing, who could potentially get some time in the outfield again after he struggled with limited playing time behind Will Smith.
Gomez also praised the Dodgers' current relief team, even while maintaining faith that Scott “will come back and have a great year for us next year and be one of those guys that pitches late in games.”
It would still be a surprise if the Dodgers weren't brandishing some notable addition to the bullpen. The depth of opportunity in the free agent market (especially with players like Williams and Fairbanks, who have been trade targets for the team over the past couple of years) should make an acquisition search there more likely.
However, Gomez insisted that a better pitcher is not so much a necessity as it is a “nice to have.”
In fact, that seems to be the theme of the Dodgers' entire offseason: seeking upgrades on terms they like without feeling pressured to make another wave of expensive acquisitions.
