MLB Teams: Buyers in 2020
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers are in the enviable position of being a powerhouse that retains some payroll flexibility even in the face of their $196 million opening day 2019 payroll.
LA approaches this winter with only about $124 million in ongoing commitments to a championship-level core that includes pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda, infielders Justin Turner, Corey Seager, Enrique Hernandez, and Max Muncy, and outfielders Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson. That commitment might fall even further if closer Kenley Jensen opts out of the $18 million he is owed this season.
The rumor mill has the Dodgers – at the appropriate moment — courting Nationals MVP candidate Anthony Rendon, although it’s not clear where the signing of Rendon would leave Turner, the incumbent at third base. Turner is owed $20 million in 2020, and at age 35 he doesn’t figure to be able to move easily to, for example, left field.
They can also afford to be players at the high end of the pitching market. How would Cole or Stephen Strasburg – assuming he opts outlook in the Dodger rotation next season? One other provocative (and possible) move would have the Dodgers throwing a hefty performance-laden deal at a certain 30-year-old left-handed five-time All-Star who’s pitched his entire career to date in San Francisco. Yes, that would be Madison Bumgarner.