The 2020 Major League Baseball season has come and gone and it concluded with the Los Angeles Dodgers ending their World Series drought by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games to capture their first title in 32 years.
Now that all of the games have been played, the offseason is officially underway and hundreds of players across the league became free agents. For the Dodgers, that list includes Justin Turner, Kiké Hernandez, Joc Pederson, Pedro Baez, Alex Wood, Blake Treinen and Jimmy Nelson.
Given the current state of the league and with a ton of revenue being lost in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many free agents likely won’t receive the contract offers they are looking for with teams presumably not being willing to spend much money right now.
However, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, that could end up being a benefit to the Dodgers and select other clubs:
In the agent community there is hope that Steve Cohen’s new money will make the Mets big players, and that a few other clubs — such as the Blue Jays, Padres, Giants, Dodgers, White Sox and Twins — are showing at least an inclination to seize opportunity and strike, though most clubs intend to slash payroll. But the general anticipation is this will not be a fast-moving market.
If the Dodgers do look to spend money, there is no doubt that some of it would be allocated to bringing back their own free agents. The Dodgers stayed below the luxury tax as recently as 2019, which reset penalties.
Thus, remaining below the threshold again shouldn’t be as much of a priority, especially with more big contracts coming off the books in the next few years.
L.A. already got a start on its offseason spending when Mookie Betts was signed to a huge 12-year extension on the eve of Opening Day. He would have been a free agent this winter but the Dodgers made sure the right fielder that they traded for last offseason never made it to that point.
Top MLB free agents
Some of MLB’s top free agents this winter include Trevor Bauer, George Springer, JT Realmuto and DJ LeMahieu.
Coming off their World Series win, the Dodgers don’t have many holes, especially with more talented prospects on their way to the big leagues. Because of that, it is hard to imagine the Dodgers signing any of the above players, although it obviously can’t fully be ruled out.
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