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Dodgers Re-Sign Ricky Vanasco To Major League Deal

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2:18 pm: Vanasco will make a salary of $900K in 2024, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group.

11:43 am: The Dodgers announced Thursday that they’ve re-signed right-hander Ricky Vanasco to a one-year, major league contract. He’d previously been outrighted and elected minor league free agency, but he’ll now return to the organization and secure a spot on the 40-man roster for the winter. Los Angeles now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.

The 25-year-old Vanasco has spent the vast majority of his career in the Rangers organization, but the Dodgers acquired him on June 1 after Texas had designated the former 15th-round pick for assignment. Once regarded as one of the more promising pitchers in the Rangers system, his career has been slowed by repeated health troubles. Vanasco posted an outstanding 1.81 ERA in 11 starts back in 2019 but didn’t pitch in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and spent significant time on the minor league injured list in 2023 as well.

When healthy, however, Vanasco pitched quite well in the Dodgers’ system. In fact, after being removed from the team’s 40-man roster, Vanasco logged 28 innings betweeen Double-A and Triple-A while pitching to a pristine 0.64 ERA with a 42-to-10 K/BB ratio (36.5% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate). That showing was apparently enough for the Dodgers to offer up a big league deal in order to keep him in the system.

Although he has not yet made his big league debut, Vanasco spent the past two seasons on the 40-man roster in Texas and Los Angeles, which required him to be optioned at the end of spring training. As such, he’s exhausted two option years already. He still has an option remaining, and given his minor league injury history it’s possible he could eventually qualify for a fourth option year. For now, he’ll head to spring training healthy and perhaps on the verge of finally making his big league debut.

Padres, Dodgers, Giants Interested In Blake Snell

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The Padres, Dodgers and Giants are all interested in free-agent left-hander Blake Snell, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post in a discussion with Lauren Shehadi of MLB Network (video courtesy of MLB Network on X).

Snell, 31 next month, is fairly unique and will likely have wide variances in how he’s valued by clubs. On the positive side, he just finished 2023 with a 2.25 earned run average over his 32 starts. His 31.5% strikeout rate was second among qualified hurlers, trailing only Spencer Strider. He has a decent shot at winning a Cy Young award tonight, which would be the second of his career after winning it with the Rays in 2018.

But Snell has somehow managed to accomplish all of that despite giving out many free passes. He has walked 10.9% of batters faced in his career and that figure was cranked up to 13.3% in 2023. For context, the major league average in the most recent season was 8.6%. The strikeouts surely helped him prevent many of those runners from scoring, but so did a strong 44.4% ground ball rate. But maintaining his .256 batting average on balls in play and 86.7% strand rate would be hard to do over an extended timeline, which is why his 3.44 FIP and 4.06 SIERA suggest his ERA was perhaps flattering him by more than a full run.

He’s also not exactly a workhorse, partly due to some injuries in his career but also due to those walks preventing him from pitching deep into games. He tossed 180 2/3 innings in 2018 and a flat 180 in 2023, with those two seasons being his highest such tallies. Each other season of his career has seen him come in under 130 frames.

Despite some concerning elements in his profile, free agents with multiple Cy Young trophies don’t grow on trees and Snell could be just that in a few hours’ time. Earlier this month, MLBTR’s list of the Top 50 Free Agents predicted Snell could get a contract of seven years and $200MM. That’s based on the fact that pitchers with the potential for dominance can still get paid, even if it’s not a volume proposition. Carlos Rodón got six years and $162MM with a longer injury track record than Snell and never once getting to the 180-inning mark.

That will likely limit Snell’s market to the clubs with deeper pockets, but it sounds like he is still plenty popular. A return to the Padres would make plenty of sense from a strict baseball perspective. The club obviously likes him since they acquired him three years ago, giving up four prospects in the process. The club also has significant rotation needs, with Snell’s free agency coinciding with that of Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and Nick Martinez. That leaves the Friars with Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish as the only locks for their 2024 rotation.

The financial fit would be a little harder to see, however. The club is reportedly set to cut payroll significantly for next year, going from the $250MM range to the $200MM range. Roster Resource currently pegs their payroll for next year at $198MM, leaving very little wiggle room. The club is reportedly shopping reliever Scott Barlow and has at least some openness to Juan Soto trades, but the budget is obviously tight. Moving Soto for major league-ready pieces and then signing Snell with the money saved would be one way to compete again in 2024, but there would be plenty of risk in that path.

Like the Padres, the Dodgers have a reduced starting staff. Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw and Lance Lynn are all now free agents. It’s unclear what the future holds for Urías given an ongoing domestic violence investigation, which could lead to his second such suspension of his career. Kershaw recently underwent shoulder surgery and has an uncertain path forward, perhaps having to miss the first half of 2024. Lynn’s home run troubles were pronounced enough that the Dodgers probably don’t want him back. Among guys still on the roster, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are both recovering from surgery and may miss all of 2024.

That leaves them with Walker Buehler, who missed all of 2023 due to his own surgery rehab, and then a batch of guys who were rookies coming into 2023: Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone. There’s also Nick Frasso and Landon Knack, who were just added to the roster yesterday, but adding some proven MLB arms into the mix is a sensible path forward. Heyman lists them as one of many clubs that are looking for multiple starters this winter.

Their payroll situation is far more pleasant than that of the Padres, as Roster Resource has them at just $142MM right now, along with a CBT number of $159MM. Non-tendering Ryan Yarbrough and Yency Almonte would cut both of those figures by over $5MM. It’s unknown how high they want to take the budget in 2024 but they’ve been as high as $280MM in the past, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Even if they want to stay under the luxury tax in 2024, the base threshold is $237MM next year, meaning they have around $80MM in wiggle room.

However, they may end up using a big chunk of that on Shohei Ohtani, with many observers considering them the most likely landing spot for the two-way superstar. Signing a player like Snell would also go against their track record. Despite their big payrolls, they haven’t really spent wildly on long-term deals for pitchers. In the past decade, they gave an eight-year deal to Kenta Maeda, but with a minimal guarantee of just $25MM. Since the Zack Greinke signing way back in 2012, they haven’t given a free agent pitcher more than $50MM.

The Giants also have some money to spend and seem motivated to make a big splash. Roster Resource has their 2024 payroll at $147MM and their CBT calculation at $170MM. They’ve topped out at $200MM in past seasons, per Cot’s, but might be willing to push farther this winter. Recent attempts to land star players have fallen short, with the club just missing on guys like Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa. It is expected that they will be motivated to get something splashy done this time around and could be quite aggressive in trying to do so.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi already spoke about the club’s plans for adding to the rotation, which makes sense given the question marks behind Logan Webb, and Heyman says they are also one of the clubs looking for multiple starting this winter. They picked up their option on Alex Cobb for 2024 but he will be coming back from hip surgery. Anthony DeSclafani and Ross Stripling will each be coming off of disappointing seasons in 2023 while guys like Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn are fairly unproven.

Broadly speaking, the demand for starting pitching is high, with Heyman reporting that there are eight teams looking to add multiple pitchers this winter. Not all of them will have the money and/or the appetite for Snell but it seems like general the market conditions could be working in his favor.

Latest On Shohei Ohtani’s Free Agent Timeline

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An offseason defined by Shohei Ohtani’s free agency hasn’t been especially active within the first couple weeks. For most of the game’s top spenders, the winter may well be defined by whether they land the two-way superstar.

Those clubs may not have to wait long to learn the answer. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote this morning that teams involved in the Ohtani market believe the expected AL MVP might make his decision early, potentially before the Winter Meetings begin on December 4.

Despite that possibility, there haven’t been many teams substantively linked to Ohtani. That’s by design, as it seems his camp isn’t interested in spotlighting his free agent process. Passan writes that clubs pursuing the three-time All-Star believe that if word of a sit-down with Ohtani were made public, “it will be held against the team.”

Even in the absence of substantive reports of teams meeting with Ohtani, it’s not hard to identify the likelier suitors. The incumbent Angels have made no secret of their hope of keeping him around. Teams like the Padres and Cubs have been mentioned in more speculative fashion.

Passan unsurprisingly lists the Dodgers, Rangers and Red Sox as teams likely to be involved. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto danced around an Ohtani question at last week’s GM Meetings but acknowledged the Seattle front office would “presumably” need to try to value a free agent who is without precedent. Dipoto subsequently indicated the team was open to bringing in a designated hitter, saying they’d “love to have a full-time DH, a banger who just goes out and bangs” (link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com).

The Giants are clearly searching for a star player. Both New York franchises figure to be involved. Passan indicates that the Blue Jays, not as frequently speculated as an Ohtani landing spot because of geography, could look for a way to make a splash this offseason (although he doesn’t specifically link Toronto to Ohtani beyond what seems a loosely speculative tie). Other teams could kick around ways to get involved on a player this unique. It’d be a real surprise if he didn’t land with a club accustomed to running a player payroll in the upper third of MLB, though.

Ohtani officially rejected a qualifying offer from the Angels this afternoon. That doesn’t affect his chances of returning to Anaheim. He was never going to consider a $20.325MM salary. Having to relinquish a draft choice and potentially international signing bonus room isn’t much of a factor for a player of this magnitude. Organizations considering a record-shattering contract may know within the next few weeks whether they’ll get that opportunity.

Dodgers Add Three To 40-Man Roster

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The Dodgers have selected the contracts of three players: right-handers Nick Frasso and Landon Knack and catcher Hunter Feduccia. The trio would have otherwise been eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The 40-man count is up to 38.

Frasso was a fourth round selection of the Blue Jays in 2020. The Dodgers acquired him at the ’22 deadline in the deal sending Mitch White to Toronto. A Loyola Marymount product, Frasso has mid-upper 90s velocity and is an excellent athlete. Baseball America recently ranked him as the #5 prospect in the L.A. system. He spent the bulk of 2023 at Double-A Tulsa, working to a 3.91 ERA in 73 2/3 innings. The 6’5″ hurler struck out almost 30% of opponents against a solid 7.6% walk rate in that breakout showing.

Knack, 26, was a second round pick in the same draft. A senior sign out of East Tennessee State, he’s a potential back-end starter. Knack split the ’23 campaign between Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, posting a sub-3.00 ERA at both stops. He allowed 2.51 earned runs per nine in 100 1/3 frames overall, striking out 24% of batters faced with a 7.3% walk percentage.

Feduccia, also 26, is a left-handed hitter out of LSU. A 12th-round pick in 2018, he has spent six seasons in the minors. He logged all of 2023 in OKC, running a .279/.387/.451 batting line over 380 trips to the plate. Feduccia walked at a huge 15.3% clip, struck out around 21% of the time and connected on 11 home runs.

Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 first reported the selections of Frasso and Feduccia this afternoon.

Corbin Carroll Wins National League Rookie Of The Year Award

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Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll has won the National League Rookie of the Year award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Mets right-hander Kodai Senga came in second while Dodgers outfielder James Outman placed third.

Carroll was selected to Arizona’s roster in late August of last year, allowing him to get a taste of the majors but without exhausting his rookie status. He fared extremely well in that audition, hitting .260/.330/.500 in his first 115 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 131, indicating he was 31% better than the league average hitter in that time. The D’Backs felt confident enough in Carroll based on that showing, and his work as a minor leaguer, to give him an eight-year extension with a guarantee of $111MM.

They were hoping he would be an integral part of the club and help them make the postseason for the first time since 2017. He went on to have an incredible showing in his first full season in the majors, hitting 25 home runs and stealing 54 bases. His .285/.362/.506 line led to a 131 wRC+ and he also got strong grades for his outfield defense. He produced 6.0 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs while Baseball Reference had him at 5.4. The club did indeed break their postseason drought, snagging a Wild Card spot and eventually going all the way to the World Series.

While the award is surely thrilling for Carroll and the Snakes on its own, there are other implications of Carroll taking the trophy. The new collective bargaining agreement contains measures designed to combat service time manipulation through the prospect promotion incentive, or PPI. Top-two Rookie of the Year finishers who were Top 100 prospects on at least two preseason lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline are automatically credited with a full service year. That won’t apply to Carroll, who was up all year and earned a full service year regardless, though he was the #2 prospect on all three of those lists. Gunnar Henderson, who got the AL trophy today, was #1.

But players with PPI status can also earn extra draft picks for their clubs if they have less than 60 days of service time to start the season and earn a full service year the traditional way, as Carroll did, while also appearing on those preseason prospect lists. Players in that camp who finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting or top three in Cy Young or Most Valuable Player voting during their pre-arbitration seasons earn a bonus pick after the first round for their club. That means the Diamondbacks, who are already loaded with young talent, will get a valuable extra pick in next year’s draft.

Senga also had a strong season, his first after coming over from Japan. He made 29 starts for the Mets with a 2.98 earned run average, 29.1% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. Players considered by MLB to be foreign professionals, as Senga is, aren’t eligible to earn PPI picks for their clubs. Outman also had a solid campaign, hitting 23 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He struck out in 31.9% of his plate appearances but offset that somewhat by walking at a 12% clip. His .248/.353/.437 batting line led to a wRC+ of 118 and he also graded out well in the field. He wasn’t considered a top 100 prospect coming into the year and wouldn’t have qualified for a PPI pick even if he surpassed Senga for second place.

The voting was unanimous, per the vote tally at BBWAA, with Carroll getting all 30 first-place votes. Senga got 22 second-place votes and Outman got five. Other players getting votes were Nolan Jones of the Rockies, Eury Pérez of the Marlins, Patrick Bailey of the Giants and three Reds: Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Shohei Ohtani Rumors: GM Meetings Edition

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The offseason kicked into gear this week with the General Manager Meetings taking place in Scottsdale, Arizona. Though the meetings were eventually ended early due to a virus circling the bases of the baseball world, there was still plenty of reporting about how markets are shaping up for various clubs and players. The big star of the winter is set to be Shohei Ohtani but only dribs and drabs of information have come out relating to him so far, with Jon Heyman of The New York Post and Bob Nightengale of USA Today rounding up some of the details.

Ohtani is the top free agent available, head and shoulders above the rest. The two-way superstar has been the best player in baseball of late, putting together a three-year run of excellence that is perhaps the greatest the sport has ever seen. He’s hit 124 home runs, stolen 57 bases and slashed .277/.379/.585 in that time for a wRC+ of 157. He’s also tossed 428 1/3 innings with a 2.84 earned run average. Elbow surgery will keep him from pitching in 2024 but he will still hit, and will presumably do all he can to return to the mound in 2025 and beyond.

There has never been a player like this or a free agent like this, which puts him center stage. It has been assumed by many that he is most likely to land with a traditional big spending club such as the Dodgers, but he’s such a massive superstar that it’s possible many dark horse teams get into the mix. Marketing opportunities, both in North America and around the world, should offset some of the money it takes to land him. Those factors, along with his unprecedented talents, could open the door to unlikely suitors. “No one knows where he’s going to end up,’’ Astros general manager Dana Brown said to Nightengale. “And I think that’s exciting for the game. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. I think there may be a wild card team out there that’s going to surface. These teams can just come out of nowhere.” Indeed, any club that is not interested in Ohtani would be more noteworthy than a club that is.

But little information was to be had at the meetings, as neither Ohtani nor his agent Nez Balelo were present. Many baseball decision makers hemmed and hawed when directly asked about their interest in Ohtani, many commenting on his immense talent while adding that any club would be happy to have him. Perhaps the most absurd instance of ducking the question came from Mariners’ president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, when speaking with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. When asked about how he would value such a unique player, he said merely “I don’t know.” When asked if he would need to figure out an answer, “Presumably so” was the response.

With various smokescreens coming from different directions, there is little left to do but try to read the tea leaves. Heyman says the Dodgers are considered the favorite because of their payroll space, track record of on-field success and Ohtani’s reported fondness for Southern California. But he also adds that the Angels want a reunion and the Padres are interested as well. The latter club is reportedly trying to figure out whether to trade or extend Juan Soto, with Heyman adding that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has little interest in a trade. However, if they can successfully sign Ohtani, that could change.

He adds that the Yankees and Mets will check in but believe Ohtani is reluctant to live in New York. Heyman admits that he’s basing that on Ohtani’s initial arrival in North America six years ago, when he was reportedly choosing between the Angels, Dodgers, Padres, Rangers, Giants, Mariners and Cubs, mostly West Coast teams and none in New York. At that time, he was subject to the amateur bonus pool system and wasn’t going to get more than a few million bucks regardless of where he signed, so having a geographical preference didn’t hurt him financially. Now it would be in his best interest to at least pretend he’s open to signing anywhere, in order to have more suitors and boost his bidding. Whether he privately has a strong geographic preference right now is unknown.

The Cubs were the primary exception to the Western preference last time around and it seems they are hoping that Ohtani still thinks of them fondly. Nightengale lists them as a serious contender for Ohtani and adds that “several GMs” are saying that the Cubs “may be” the most aggressive team on Ohtani. He also adds that the Rangers are considered a serious contender, which isn’t surprising after their World Series win that was fuelled by several notable free agent signings in recent years.

As mentioned, the Angels would like a reunion and shouldn’t be counted out. “I think this is a very desirable place to play,’’ Minasian said to Nightengale. “It’s in a great part of the country. We have an outstanding fan base. The players that have played here since I’ve been here, have been really, really positive with their experiences. So, with anybody on the market, I think we have a chance.”

Though the Angels haven’t had much success on the field lately, they have done plenty of big deals under owner Arte Moreno. That includes a $360MM extension for Mike Trout, while Albert Pujols and Anthony Rendon got $254MM and $245MM in free agency, respectively. Re-signing Ohtani will likely require them to go beyond that stratosphere and into the mesosphere, but there’s at least some precedent there. “I wouldn’t put anything past,’’ Minasian said. “I think it’s something that for the right opportunities, ownership is all about winning. …We’ll do what we can to make the team as good as we can.’’

John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote this week about the interest of the Giants, talking to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. “We’ve got a good amount of payroll flexibility,” Zaidi said, “so anybody that we think can be an impact player for us, even on a long-term deal, we’re going to be looking at.” Daniel Kramer of MLB.com covered Ohtani from the Mariners’ perspective, highlighting that Dipoto was much more vocal in his interest back when Ohtani was first coming over in 2017. There are likely a dozen other clubs working on their overtures to Ohtani at this very moment.

How it will all play out and on what timeline remains to be seen. Ohtani will likely want to talk teams about things beyond just money, such as how long they are willing to let him try pitching, what they would do if/when he can no longer take the mound, etc. Those conversations may take a few weeks and it’s been speculated that he may be signed by the Winter Meetings in the first week of December, but there are still plenty of unknowns about perhaps the most fascinating free agent of all-time.

Dodgers Showing Interest In Teoscar Hernandez

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The Dodgers have expressed interest in Teoscar Hernández, reports Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times (X link). General manager Brandon Gomes told reporters this afternoon that a corner outfielder was among the items on the team’s offseason checklist (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic).

Hernández is one of the higher-upside bats on a market light on free agent hitting. A two-time Silver Slugger award winner, he hit .283/.333/.519 for the Blue Jays between 2020-22. He hits the open market on the heels of an underwhelming platform season, however. After an offseason trade to the Mariners, Hernández put together a .258/.305/.435 line across 678 trips to the plate.

He’s still a solid source of right-handed power, connecting on 26 home runs this past season. It was an atypically streaky offensive performance, as excellent showings in June and August were muted by below-average play in the other four months. Seattle made the somewhat surprising decision not to issue Hernández a qualifying offer. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto explained yesterday the club wanted to pivot in a more contact-oriented direction.

Even at his best, Hernández brings a lot of swing-and-miss. He fanned in 31.1% of his plate appearances this year and has gone down on strikes more than 28% of the time through the past four seasons. The profile is built more around power than strong on-base skills.

MLBTR nevertheless predicts Hernández to find a four-year pact that pays around $20MM annually, slotting him as the #12 free agent. He recently turned 31 and is arguably the #4 position player in the class behind Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman. Hernández has a bat-first reputation but logged nearly 1200 right field innings with Seattle, grading as a league average corner outfield defender by Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average.

Los Angeles can go in a number of directions on the position player front. They’re presently shorthanded in the corner outfield and designated hitter mix after Jason Heyward, J.D. Martinez and David Peralta reached free agency. L.A. will obviously be among the teams pursuing Ohtani and could look to bring Martinez and/or Heyward back depending on how the offseason progresses.

Mookie Betts showed the ability to play an effective second base in addition to his Gold Glove caliber outfield work. Gomes indicated the Dodgers would continue to get Betts into action at the keystone, noting that the club plans to give plenty of shortstop work to Gavin Lux. The 25-year-old infielder missed the entire season after tearing the ACL in his right knee during Spring Training. The Dodgers have glove-first veteran Miguel Rojas under contract but could kick him into a utility role if Lux steps into something approaching an everyday shortstop job.

Meanwhile, Gomes added that younger infielders Miguel Vargas and Michael Busch could find their way into the corner outfield (via Ardaya). They’ve each seen limited time in left field in the minors but are primarily second and third basemen. Neither player has hit well against MLB pitching in limited looks but they have accomplished offensive track records in Triple-A. Given the multi-positional flexibility throughout the roster, the Dodgers can go in a number of ways over the coming months.

Dodgers Rumors: Kershaw, Martinez, Ohtani

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The Dodgers opted not to issue a qualifying offer to designated hitter J.D. Martinez and aren’t sure exactly when fellow free agent Clayton Kershaw will be cleared to pitch next season on the heels of shoulder surgery, but there’s some interest in keeping both players around for the 2024 campaign. President of baseball ops Andrew Friedman said at this week’s GM Meetings that his group is hopeful Kershaw continues pitching and spends the remainder of his career in a Dodgers uniform (via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times).

The lack of a qualifying offer for Martinez might’ve been a modest surprise at first glance, given his 33 home runs and .271/.321/.572 batting line on the season. A one-year deal at $20.325MM certainly seems justified for that level of production.

However, as we suggested in our Top 50 Free Agent list, the Dodgers surely didn’t want to risk the possibility of Martinez accepting a QO, given their widely expected pursuit of Shohei Ohtani. The former AL MVP will be limited to DH duties next year, so Martinez accepting would’ve been an unnecessary roadblock in those efforts. As a reminder, players that accept a QO are considered free agent signings and thus cannot be traded without their consent prior to June 15 of the following season; in other words, there was no straightforward scenario where Martinez accepted a QO and could then just be flipped elsewhere should the Dodgers emerge victorious in the Ohtani bidding.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that Ohtani’s presence on the market indeed influenced the Martinez QO decision, as one would logically expect. Friedman himself alluded to the very same yesterday, telling Harris that an eventual Martinez reunion is a possibility, but the Dodgers aren’t presently sure “which direction we’re going to go with our position player group” (a very likely nod to the uncertainty surrounding Ohtani’s still-nascent market).

While it’s certainly possible that Martinez might prefer to see where Ohtani lands before accepting an offer himself, that’s far from a given. There’s some logic to waiting to ensure that the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, Rangers and other expected Ohtani suitors can join the bidding for Martinez’s services. But at the same time, if a team that knows it won’t be signing Ohtani swoops in with a strong offer for Martinez early in the offseason, he could also move quickly rather than run the risk of overplaying his hand. Earlier free agent deals tend to be stronger than those bartered late in the offseason, after all.

Turning to Kershaw, there’s still no indication as to when he might make a decision on his future. Friedman (via Harris) indicated that the Dodgers are “giving him the time and space to make the best decision” for his family. The Dodgers were similarly patient regarding Kershaw two offseasons ago, when he remained unsigned through the 99-day MLB lockout and took until March 13 to put pen to paper on a new deal. Last winter, when Kershaw was once again a free agent, things came together far more quickly; the two parties agreed to terms on a deal for the 2023 season as early as November 11.

Friedman said last month that the ball is squarely in Kershaw’s court, as the pitcher already knows the team’s feelings and knows the Dodgers are hopeful he’ll return. Those comments came prior to Kershaw’s surgery. The pitcher has since said he’s hopeful of returning to the mound sometime next summer.

Without Kershaw in the fold, the Los Angeles rotation mix currently includes Walker Buehler, Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Emmet Sheehan, Michael Grove, Gavin Stone and Ryan Yarbrough. Righty Dustin May will miss the beginning of the 2024 campaign after undergoing flexor tendon surgery and a Tommy John revision in early July. Fellow right-hander Tony Gonsolin underwent Tommy John surgery in late August and could miss the entire ’24 campaign. The Dodgers figure to be in the market for multiple arms over the course of the offseason, whether that includes Kershaw or not.

Latest On Brewers’ Managerial Vacancy

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The Brewers are suddenly looking for a manager for the first time in almost a decade, with Craig Counsell’s stunning move to the Cubs yesterday. Some of the options they are considering as a replacement, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, are current Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, Astros Bench coach Joe Espada, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough, Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker and former player Rickie Weeks.

Counsell departing Milwaukee wasn’t totally unforeseen. He was on an expiring contract in 2023 and extension talks didn’t come to fruition. But with David Stearns moving on from the Brewers to become president of baseball operations for the Mets and then firing manager Buck Showalter, many assumed Counsell would follow him to Queens. But Counsell joining the division-rival Cubs was not foreseen or known to be on the table.

Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio spoke on the matter yesterday, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and it seems he was surprised as well. “When he first told me, I said, ‘Are you messing with me?’” Attanasio added that “It is what it is” and that the club intends to continue putting their best foot forward without Counsell. “We have a really good thing. I give Craig credit for helping to build that, and for adding all these coaches, all of whom have stayed. So we’re going to look for a manager who can continue having a terrific clubhouse culture and that can help us keep winning and hopefully get over the hump in the playoffs.”

As for the Mets, despite the generally spendthrift behavior of Steve Cohen in recent years, they apparently never got close to the $40MM over five years that Counsell secured from the Cubs. Per Andy Martino of SNY, there was a sense that his interest in coming to the Mets wasn’t actually that high and he was merely using them to drive up the bidding. That would track with his reported interest in resetting the market for managerial salaries. Perhaps he wasn’t especially willing to do that in Queens since he grew up in the Midwest and Chicago is a better fit for him, or perhaps the Mets were content to hire a manager with lesser demands, but the end result is that the Mets landed first-time manager Carlos Mendoza instead.

As for the Brewers’ immediate concerns in relation to this, though it may sting that Counsell joined a division rival instead of the Mets, the focus now will be on filling the void. It seems they weren’t terribly proactive while Counsell was still available, with Attanasio stating that he and general manager Matt Arnold “thought it was going to muddy things if we started interviews with third parties” but that Arnold has “conducted a couple of internal interviews, for what that’s worth.” That suggests they are still in the early stages of their search, with still a wide list of potential candidates being considered, as mentioned above.

Murphy, 65 this month, has a small amount of managerial experience. He was in the Padres’ organization in June of 2015 when Bud Black was fired as manager. Murphy got the gig on an interim basis for the second half of that season but Andy Green took over for the 2016 campaign. Murphy then came to the Brewers to serve as bench coach under Counsell and has garnered plenty of interest from clubs with managerial openings since, but has stayed in Milwaukee.

Mattingly, 63 in April, has plenty of experience as a bench boss. He was at the helm for the Dodgers from 2011 to 2015 and then for the Marlins from 2016 to 2022, before joining the Blue Jays as bench coach for the 2023 season.

Espada, 48, has coaching experience with the Marlins and Yankees but has been the bench coach of the Astros since the start of the 2018 season. He has been connected to various managerial gigs in the past few years but is still with the Astros, who just saw Dusty Baker step out of the skipper’s chair. It’s been speculated that Espada could take over in Houston but nothing is official there.

McCullough, 44 next month, has been the first base coach of the Dodgers since the 2021 campaign. He recently interviewed for the managerial opening in Cleveland but that position has now been filled by Stephen Vogt.

Snitker, 35 next month, is the son of Atlanta manager Brian Snitker. He has been co-hitting coach for the Astros for the past five seasons alongside Álex Cintrón.

Weeks, 41, played in the majors from 2003 to 2017, most of that in Milwaukee. He was hired by the Brewers for a player development role going into the 2022 season.

Dodgers Do Not Extend Qualifying Offer To J.D. Martinez

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The Dodgers are not extending $20.325MM qualifying offers to J.D. Martinez or Clayton Kershaw, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.

Martinez, now 36, signed a one-year, $10MM deal with the Dodgers for 2023. He then had his best season in years, hitting 33 home runs and producing a line of .271/.321/.572. His 135 wRC+ indicated he was 35% better than the league average hitter.

A strong argument could have been made for Martinez to receive the QO in a vacuum, but what likely worked against him is the fact that he’s essentially a designated hitter only. The Dodgers are considered to be one of the top landing spots for Shohei Ohtani, who will be a designated hitter only in 2024 and will need significant time in that slot even if he returns to pitching in 2025. If the Dodgers extended the QO to Martinez, he may have accepted since it’s more than twice the salary he just made in 2023. Having both him and Ohtani on the same roster would be a particularly awkward fit since he has only played 12 innings in the field over the past two seasons combined.

As for Kershaw, the Dodgers have courteously decided not to give him a QO in each of the past two offseasons. Since he was reportedly deciding between returning to the Dodgers, joining his hometown Rangers or retiring, the club neglected to give him the QO so that he could take his time to make such a decision. This winter, there’s even more uncertainty since the southpaw underwent shoulder surgery and has an uncertain timeline for a return to action.

In both cases, the lack of QO helps the player in free agency since receiving a QO has a negative effect on a player’s earning power. Being saddled with draft pick forfeiture will cause some clubs to lower how much they are willing to spend on a given player while some other will steer clear of such players completely. By avoiding the QO, they can each can avoid any such worries.

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