The Los Angeles Dodgers fell one win shy of a World Series championship last year, but expect to once again contend for a title after bringing back the majority of their core for the 2018 season.
That’s part of the reasoning why the Dodgers passed on the opportunity to trade for Giancarlo Stanton, among other splashy players who were available during the past offseason, and instead, settled for lesser-known depth acquisitions to complement the existing group of players.
And though the organization has made a habit of stockpiling depth on their 25- and 40-man rosters and in the farm system, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi believes it’s key that there’s an understanding players will get an opportunity to play, per Bradford Doolittle of ESPN:
“Part of having depth is also creating opportunity,” Zaidi said. “We can talk about depth, but no player wants to view themselves as depth. Every player believes in his ability to be a big leaguer and believes he has a chance to impact the team, given that chance.
“We want our players to believe that opportunity is real. We want to be able to point to guys as examples of players who might have been generically referred to as depth at one point but wound up being a lot more than that.”
Indeed, the Dodgers continued bolstering their impressive depth over the winter, which paved the way for two epic positional battles in Spring Training, in the bullpen and left field.
Though man Brandon Morrow departed as a free agent, the club added the likes of Scott Alexander, J.T. Chargois, Tom Koehler and Pat Venditte to the fold. The former two cracked the Opening Day roster, while the latter two will almost certainly see time in the Majors this season.
In the case of Koehler, his opportunity to pitch in the regular season was delayed only because of a shoulder injury suffered in Spring Training. Otherwise, the right-hander was a candidate for high-leverage situations.
In left field, the Dodgers reacquired Matt Kemp in a salary dump with the Atlanta Braves. While he wasn’t initially expected to remain with the organization, the 33-year-old went on to claim the wide-open vacancy at the position over five other players, including Andrew Toles.
As a domino effect, Toles was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to begin the season. He since has landed on the Minor League disabled list due to a hamstring trouble.
With so many viable options at multiple levels, the Dodgers have set themselves up well for in-house reinforcements when injury strikes. The club could also package some of its depth for midseason trades, as has been the case in recent years.
