How Can Dodgers Set Themselves Up to Repeat?

Surprise, surprise: L.A. is already set up for a successful 2021, but it can improve a few areas of the roster.

The holiday season is upon us, and many people trying to complete their gift buying are facing the same problem: What do you get for the person in your life who already has everything? Such is the dilemma facing Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office this winter.

The defending champs are loaded, and despite potential losses to key players like Justin Turner, Joc Pederson, Kiké Hernandez and Jake McGee, they should have plenty left in the cupboard to be considered favorites in 2021. But just as you can’t skip over that impossible-to-shop-for somebody on your gift list, the Dodgers will certainly look to augment an already imposing roster.

Here are three moves the Dodgers should make this offseason, with an eye toward becoming the first team since the 1999–2000 Yankees to repeat as champs.

Re-sign Justin Turner

This just makes too much sense for both sides. When he arrived in Los Angeles in 2014, Turner was a 29-year-old career bench player with a .361 lifetime slugging percentage. With the Dodgers, he’s been a postseason hero and one of the most reliable hitters in the league. A deal to re-sign Turner would not be simply a sentimental play. Turner, who just turned 36, was his typical productive self in 2020, and he’d serve as an effective bridge to the team’s third baseman of the future.

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There are two obvious in-house options to eventually assume that role: Edwin Ríos (who turns 27 in April) and Kody Hoese, the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2019. Ríos has impressed as a part-time player over the past two seasons and can also play first base. Hoese is 23 but has played just 41 minor-league games, so he’s hardly ready to step in and play everyday. Turner coming back on a short-term deal would enable the Dodgers to preserve their core while not blocking younger players’ paths toward larger roles.

Sign Brad Hand

Cleveland’s decision to decline Hand’s $10 million club option for 2021 was puzzling, considering the team ostensibly is in win-now mode (at least until it trades Francisco Lindor) and Hand was yet again outstanding in 2020. Even more confounding was that none of the other 29 teams opted to claim Hand at that price, making the left-hander an unrestricted free agent.

The Dodgers benefited last offseason by picking up a similar bullpen cast-off in Blake Treinen. Treinen, who posted an 0.78 ERA in 80 1/3 innings in 2018, struggled in 2019 and was non-tendered by the Athletics. The Dodgers signed him to a $10 million deal, and he became one of the team’s go-to late-inning options. Hand has a more consistent track record than Treinen, and his salary ceiling is seemingly capped at the same $10 million that Treinen cost a year ago.

Sign Garrett Richards

Probably the least pressing area of need for the Dodgers is the rotation. The same cast of characters returns in 2021, and the group is slated add David Price to the mix after the former Cy Young Award winner opted out of the 2020 season. Richards, though, would give the pitching staff elements that it craves and can never have too much of: depth and flexibility.

Dave Roberts was not afraid to shuttle his arms from the rotation to the bullpen last season, and he’s likely to lean on that strategy next year as well. Juio Urías, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin have had experience pitching in relief, with Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and Price presumably entrenched as starters. Richards played in both roles for San Diego last season, and though he’s had his share of injury issues in the past, the Dodgers would not need him to make 30 starts or 60 relief appearances.

When he’s healthy, he’s effective, and he still averaged over 95 mph on his fastball in 2020. Richards, entering his age-33 season, is a native Oklahoman but has spent his entire career pitching in Southern California with the Angels and Padres.