Recent history isn’t in the Dodgers favor, but will it change?
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
If you look at last offseason, the Dodgers went out and signed A.J. Pollock to a $55 million contract to lure him away from the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he went on to go for 0-14 in the postseason this year.
His WAR was 0.2 in 2019, which explains the absence of production that was there for a guy the Dodgers are paying over half $100 million.
My point is Pollock is currently the owner of the biggest contract given out to a player coming from a different club on the roster. For the Dodgers to get over the hump, they need to actually acquire star players.
I understand that Pollock was coming off a good year, but everyone talks about how the Dodgers are going to land a big free agent every winter and they never seem to do so. All they have done this year is sign Blake Treinen, who got kicked out of his closer role in 2019 with the Oakland Athletics.
Anthony Rendon was rumored to be an interest of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they never made an offer. They failed to give Gerrit Cole anywhere near the $324 million he got from the Yankees.
Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor could be acquired through trades, but they fall under the category of superstar players that have been thrown around in rumors surrounding the Dodgers.
So, will they fail to match up with Boston or Cleveland like they have failed to match up with the big free agents in recent winters?
It’s up to Andrew Friedman and you’ll know the answer by the end of the offseason, but if I wouldn’t get too excited if I was a fan because the Dodgers just seem like a hummingbird–buzzing around but accomplishing little.