Dodger roster crunch

[JohnBriggs12]

LA needs to clear some roster spots for guys they have agreed to terms on but don't have roster space for.  They could eat some salary by releasing Chris Taylor, or find a team to take Outman in a trade.  They also could deal 35 year old shortstop Miguel Rojas.  Rojas has always been a solid if unspectacular defender and he's coming off one of the best offensive seasons of his career.  He has one year left on his contract at a modest $5 million.  He's no Willy Adames nor is he a guy you want starting 150+ games but he's a proven veteran that could fill a need for the Brewers,

[Lathund]

It's on the pitching side they have a roster crunch. They will have 13 position players on the roster, and they have a total of 15 on the 40-man. If anything they'd probably want to add more for depth rather than get rid of them. They'll need to free up a spot or two soon (Yates, Kershaw) but most of their roster space will come when they can put their recovering pitchers (4-5 of them) on the 60-day IL. 

I think if they trade away anyone, it'll be pitchers who are out of options but don't have a lock on a roster spot. Ryan Brasier seems like the prime candidate. Anthony Banda or even Dustin May could be candidates too. They *could* trade/release position player depth too, but then they'd need to replace them once the 60-day IL opens anyway, and it's quite a risky situation to absolutely *need* to make signings/trades that late. 

[AKCheesehead]

At this point I expect LAD to sign a bunch of expensive MLB players to high dollar minor league contracts to hedge against any injuries or underperformance.  Their AAA affiliate would be capable of winning any division aside from the NL West. 

[Soupbone]

Dodger team president Stan Kasten was quoted as saying their spending was good for baseball.

He doesn't understand why people are upset about their off season splurge.

I think there are a lot of people who are upset because their team cannot spend that way.

The imbalance is what people are upset about and for Kasten to say more teams should do it is very condescending on his part.

[Playing Catch]

18 hours ago, Soupbone said:

Dodger team president Stan Kasten was quoted as saying their spending was good for baseball.

He doesn't understand why people are upset about their off season splurge.

I think there are a lot of people who are upset because their team cannot spend that way.

The imbalance is what people are upset about and for Kasten to say more teams should do it is very condescending on his part.

There has been a lot of rumblings around the sport about how the Dodgers are good for baseball. Heck, the Dodgers are good for this site. Over the last calendar year, I'd bet the Dodgers are the subject of more posts than the Cubs.

With that said, there's also been a lot of talk, nationally, about competitive imbalance, and the damage that can do long-term, to the sport.

[Soupy]

Toughest question is how does MLB resolve the $334 million per year cash cow the Dodgers have with their broadcast rights? Is the only way a complete revenue sharing of monies from that? No way the Dodgers, Yankees agree to that. 

[Playing Catch]

3 hours ago, Soupy said:

Toughest question is how does MLB resolve the $334 million per year cash cow the Dodgers have with their broadcast rights? Is the only way a complete revenue sharing of monies from that? No way the Dodgers, Yankees agree to that. 

They'll agree to it if other teams vote for a lockout and demand it. The big teams still need little teams to play against.

I agree that there won't be any kind of NFL-style salary cap, and that the rich teams will remain the richest teams. But I think there will be a little bit more than a baby step toward better competitive balance. I think this will correspond with the league giving a little on years of team control, perhaps restricted free agency?

[jay87shot]

I would take a risk on Dustin May, I think he has more upside than someone like DL Hall and with 1 year left on his deal he probably wouldn't cost much more than a lotto style prospect. May had/has a great arm with a solid mix but has only thrown 101 in the past 4 seasons. He would make a nice multi inning reliever who we could protect his arm and if he can stay healthy be a high potential starter by the end of the year. 

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, jay87shot said:

I would take a risk on Dustin May, I think he has more upside than someone like DL Hall and with 1 year left on his deal he probably wouldn't cost much more than a lotto style prospect. May had/has a great arm with a solid mix but has only thrown 101 in the past 4 seasons. He would make a nice multi inning reliever who we could protect his arm and if he can stay healthy be a high potential starter by the end of the year. 

The Dodgers didn’t get where they are by giving away talent. May has tore his elbow ligament twice, an increasingly common occurrence (de Grom, Evoldi, Buehler, Taillon, Drew Rasmussen, etc.). He missed last year not with an arm injury but with an esophageal tear. 
 

I’m sure if the Dodgers wanted to trade Dustin May, there would be any number of teams lining up for the reasons you state thereby driving up the price to the realm of legitimate talent. 

[Playing Catch]

22 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

He missed last year not with an arm injury but with an esophageal tear.

That sounds awful.

[Underachiever]

2 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

That sounds awful.

Public Service Announcement to chew your food well, people!