The Los Angeles Dodgers may be done toying with their roster. After their most recent transactions, it looks like the starting rotation and outfield are set for the 2015 season.
Los Angeles has added Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson to their roster to round off the back end of their starting rotation. They also traded away Matt Kemp to help make room for one of their top prospects in Joc Pederson. With cost-effective executives Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi in the front office it looks like the team is done spending big money at this point.
The Dodgers cut reliever Brian Wilson and his $9.5 million salary and are also shopping Brandon League as they're offering to pay half of his $8.5 million salary for 2015. It's evident they don't care about spending money to get rid of players they don't deem effective for next year's roster. In addition to that, Zaidi, the team's general manager, has provided some clarity for the big name free agents and others available via trade.
"You never say never, but we have no plans to pursue those kind of guys at this time," Farhan said via the Los Angeles Times. He was referring to starting pitchers Max Scherzer, James Shields and Cole Hamels. "We made a concerted effort to improve our starting pitching depth."
As free agency slows down and the market for Scherzer and Shields is largely unknown, many are keeping big market teams in the discussion for these starters because of the pitchers' contract demands. Scherzer wants $200 million; Shields is expected to make around $100 million; and Hamels has $96 million remaining on his current contract. As of right now we can count the Dodgers out.
In the outfield, nothing is set in stone for 2015, but many believe Pederson will start the season with the team. However, the Dodgers still have a surplus of outfielders and might still be looking to move Andre Ethier, who implied he wants to start or be traded. Ethier is owed $53.5 million over the next three seasons and has a $17.5 million vesting option for 2018, so it's probably going to be difficult to move him unless they pay a big chunk of his salary.
It appears the outfield will consist of Carl Crawford in left, Pederson in center and Yasiel Puig in right, but because of the trade speculation surrounding Ethier, Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times provides a few scenarios for next season. He mentions the above option as well as starting Crawford in left, Ethier in center and Puig in right or Crawford in left, Puig in center and Ethier in right (with Pederson either on the bench or back in the minors in both scenarios).
Even Friedman has been hesitant to announce Pederson as the team's starting center fielder:
"I don't know yet. I think we'll take some time in spring training and assess that, get a feel for [Pederson] in camp and how he's handling things. It'll be a discussion we'll have with the staff and I'm sure it will be an ongoing discussion between now through the last game in March. My guess is Puig would play there a decent amount. Ethier, [Enrique] Hernandez, Chris Heisey, we have different guys that can go out there."
They're sort of in the same situation as the Boston Red Sox, who are facing decisions regarding veterans Shane Victorino and Allen Craig as they look to insert Rusney Castillo and Mookie Betts. Whatever the case, there's still time for the Dodgers to trade Ethier (or whomever else) to clear up some space because it's clear they're also ushering in a new philosophy.
