As one of the many teams looking to fill roster needs, the Los Angeles Dodgers were expected to be active players at Major League Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings.
However, Los Angeles executives departed from Nashville, Tenn., only having made their re-signing of Chase Utley to a one-year contract official.
The Dodgers were linked to several players throughout the week — and had a trade in place to acquire Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman before reports of an alleged domestic violence incident in October threw that off course.
Chapman is now under investigation by MLB under their domestic violence policy, though the door may not be completely shut on a trade eventually taking place.
As the Chapman debacle was unfolding, the Dodgers were also linked to Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez. Though talks seemingly never gained much traction with Miami asking for everything but the kitchen sink in exchange for their young righty.
A trade for New York Yankees closer Andrew Miller was reportedly discussed. But the Dodgers don’t appear to have the necessary pieces to entice New York.
What Los Angeles may be able to hang their hat on at this point is a reported three-year, $45 million agreement with Hisashi Iwakuma that was reached prior to the Winter Meetings beginning.
While Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hasn’t yet been able to pull of the big trade or sign a marquee free agent as many are expecting, he’s confident in the current roster, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“We’re really excited about the core we have in place, we feel it’s a championship caliber core and we continue to build around and add,” he said. “Some additions happen in the offseason, some in July, some are near-term, some are long-term. But we feel good about the group we have and excited about the next couple months.”
The Dodgers have currently taken a backseat to National League West division rival Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona stunned the baseball world by signing Zack Greinke, then proceeded to trade for Atlanta Braves right-hander Shelby Miller.
The Dodgers were in the bidding to re-sign Greinke, and were believed to have inquired about Miller. Friedman gave praise to the Diamondbacks for their aggressive moves as they look to unseat the Dodgers as NL West champions.
Outside of needing to replace Greinke and Howie Kendrick at second base, the Dodgers will have their No. 3 and No. 4 hitters next season — Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzalez — and a young nucleus that includes Kiké Hernandez, Joc Pederson and Corey Seager.
As for the splashy move many are demanding, the Dodgers were said to have their focus on free agent Johnny Cueto. The right-hander agreed to a six-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Monday.
