Breaking Down the Dodgers 3-Peat Chances & Their Offseason Needs

Breaking Down the Dodgers 3-Peat Chances & Their Offseason Needs

I am your general manager. That’s a great front end. I haven’t seen that before. I love that he’s sitting at Dodger Stadium in what I think is Lon Rosen’s office, but that’s neither here nor there. All right, guys. The Los Angeles Dodgers seek to become the first team since the 1998 to 2000 New York Yankees to win three consecutive titles. Are they going to do it, AJ? And if so, how? I don’t think they are. I I don’t I don’t How do they do it? I mean, they just continue to build on the roster they have. Do I think they will? I think they won’t. I think their starting pitching is going to be beat up. They got to find some bullpen help. They’re a year older on the on the position player side. Sorry, Alana, but I don’t think they’re going to win three in a row. They they they maybe shouldn’t have won two in a row. that the Blue Jays kind of had them, made some critical errors, which the Dodgers don’t do, but I think with another year, another long postseason run, I think I think they’re not going to be they’ll make the playoffs, of course, but I think somebody will figure out a way to take them out. I understand. That’s fair. I mean, listen, I’ll take backtoback. I don’t expect a three Pete. It’s difficult to do in any sport, certainly in baseball. You guys know that. Um, Eric, if you are the Dodgers, it seems like LA is the uh the destination for Japanese top pitching prospects. Do you go after the two prospects in terms of I guess I have to learn some new names, right? Uh Munitaka Murakami. Um and is it Amay Eay? How do you say am I? Okay. Do you go after either of those two guys to join Shi Otani and Roki Sasaki and Yoshi Nou Yamamoto? Am I? Yes. Am I? I would go after him because of the fact that you can always use pitching. Clearly they showed that this year. Clearly everybody was like, “How can you have nine or 10 quality starters to start the year?” Like, you see how you can do it. So, yes, I see them going after Amay. And I think that’s probably their easier get if you’re saying one of the two because Munitaki Morakami kind of plays the positions they’ve already had. whe whether you believe like AJ like that they’re getting older, you don’t need a you don’t need somebody to be to replace Max at third base yet. He’s, you know, he’s going to coming up on one more year deal. He’ll probably sign some kind of extension like he keeps doing. Obviously, Freddy has not lost a beat as opposed to what Dumbrossski said, but you know, I think they’re they’re locked in and you can’t bring in a DH because of what show does. So, Morakami, no. But am I I mean, worst worst comes to worse, like the guy slides to the bullpen. They you you need six starters. So, essentially, you probably need about eight to nine starters to start the season because very few of them. I mean, I was super impressed that Yamamoto got to 30 starts. You might they might want to back that down a little bit. So, you need more guys. And I have a hard time believing that his teammates on team samurai would not be would not at least give a ringing vote of confidence to the Dodgers. By the way, Yoshino Yamamoto just uh adopted a dog out of an LA shelter by the name of Carlos. So, not only uh is he the greatest pitcher on the face of the planet ever to live, he also adopts his pets. But that’s neither here nor there. Uh AJ Pzinski, let me ask you this. Fabian Arda who writes for the Athletics said that Devin Williams was emerging as a Dodgers leverage reliever target. We just talked to Jim Bowden about it. Uh in terms of the closer market, do you think Devin Williams makes sense in LA? Yeah, he makes sense everywhere, especially as a bounceback candidate. I think he was better towards the end of the year. I think the Dodgers figure stuff out that a lot of other teams haven’t figured out. I think he would be a great guy. You know, if he’d be your closer, I don’t know. They’re hoping Tanner Scott comes back from his butt surgery. Blake trying to bounce his back after a down year. Uh, you know, and they have a lot of options down there. So, I do I think he’d be a great fit. Yeah, but there’s about 15 other teams too he’d be a great fit for. So, it’s nice to be a reliever in this market. And yeah, I think you fit in LA and and a lot of places. Is the closer market this year, AJ and Eric, the shortstop market two years ago? Seems like there’s a lot of uh good closers, but there there was a lot of really good shorts stops a couple of years ago. We were kind of wondering who was going to go first at what price and and and where is it kind of similar to that? Anybody? No, I think so. No, I think I think you’re right. I think it’s who’s going to go where and who’s going to be the first domino to fall. That’s the thing. And then once it once a team like LA reaches their the guy their guy, then the next guy will go and the next team will go and the next I mean I guess the top guy would be Edwin Diaz, right? Where does Edwin Diaz go? Does he go back to the Mets? he’s gonna kind of set the market and then once he’s off the board it’s going to be like pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew because then there’s going to be a run because then whoever think whoever you think the next guy is is gonna say well if Edwin Diaz got this and then the teams will come to him right so it starts off with if you think Diaz is the top guy then the next guy the next guy the next guy and as as teams and then as they start getting more and more in their price range teams are going to start picking these guys off pretty quick. Yeah. I mean that was a big that was a big shortstop market. I was trying to think who all was on that market. I mean, it was that was like that was Lindor, Story, Koreah, Danny, Xander. I get it. But here’s the thing with the closer market. I’m not saying this is going to happen, but people were up in arms about it last year when the Dodgers just kept getting every good closer or every good bullpen piece that was out there. Like, teams have to move. You can’t like this isn’t musical chairs and say, “Oh, well, I’m out. Like if you need a closer to me, you got to move. They’re out there. You have three You have three high-end elite choices. Yes, Devin Williams had a bad year this year, but to me, I think it’s very simple to just look at his usage and how it compared to what he was doing and what counts with the Brewers compared to what he was doing and what counts with the Yankees. So, I think he’s up there with the other two guys, and I just think you you have to move. You have to move. I I don’t I don’t think it’s quite as deep, but there is a it’s easily the deepest position this off season by far. Holiday shopping season is here, and we have you covered from head to toe. Let’s take talk about an area that’s not quite close to the toes. Let’s get crazy with this holiday season. Yeah, that’s MeUndies I’m spinning around. But the holiday season, now you can get MeUndies with some holiday prints on them. That’s right. Ridiculously soft fabric holiday prints, matching holiday prints with your special person, or you can coordinate PJs for the family photo. And right now, you can get up to 50% off with the code foul. We rock me undies. You should, too. We’re talking over 30 million pairs sold. Knock out all your holiday gifting needs today with MeUndies to get exclusive holiday deals up to, yep, I said it, 50% off. Go to miunddies.com/foul and enter promo code foul. That’s me undi.com/full promo code foul for up to 50% off. Dalton Rushing is now the backup catcher to Will Smith in Los Angeles. Ben Rovet was claimed off of waiverss by Cincinnati. Are you okay with rushing as the backup to Will Smith, AJ? Yeah, he did it this year. He proved it. That’s what they think he’s going to be apparently because otherwise they, you know, would try to trade him and move him. Maybe that’s they still will. But the bigger question is rot. He’s going to be the third catcher in Cincinnati because they have Stevenson and Trevvenho who’s signed to a deal. So what where’s Roorf fit for Cincinnati? I guess if one of them gets hurt. But I that was surpris more surprising to me than anything. What about you, Eric? No, I don’t think he should. And and I’ve said this for a while. I don’t think Daltton Rushing should be the backup. I think he’s much better than the backup than than a backup situation. But it’s where he’s at right now. The Dodgers have a have one of the best, if not the top three catchers in the game. And Will Smith, and they, yes, I get it. They need to give him days off so he doesn’t wear down at the end of the season. But you saw this year he wasn’t wearing down at the end of the season. His numbers were great. a freak injury. And to me, if they have the ability to upgrade with Daltton rushing, I think it would be great for him. And I think it would also be great for the team to say, “Yes, we can go get a backup catcher in some type of role and we can get something, in my opinion, pretty huge.” Because if you end up having Daltton Rushing be the backup for the next two or three years, it is really tough to put up numbers. And as a player, you can still become a starter later, but as a team, his value will just decrease because right now, he’s a dude that was in the minor leagues, prospects, a lot of a lot of hype, played all the time, and you’re going to the big leagues and you’re just not playing very much. So, you’re just not going to get the same value years from now or even a year from now if he continues to amass 180 to 200 at bats. when I thought what he did in the minor leagues was enough to be a starter in the big leagues. Let me ask you this though. Is it better to be a starter on the Pittsburgh Pirates or a backup for the Los Angeles Dodgers? Depends if you want to get paid or not. Okay. If you’re the starter, if you’re the starter, you’re always going to get you always want to be the starter because you’re gonna that’s how you make your money and establish a career. Now, there are guys that are backups, but they usually don’t get paid the amount that the starter gets. And if you’re good enough to be a starter, like most people believe Daltton Rushing is, it’d be better to go be a starter. But right now, the Dodgers ain’t doing it. So, you know what? Be happy as a backup and try to win another ring because he had some big at bats and he had some big games for the Dodgers. Totally. That’s what his That’s what his mindset has to be. And it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win if he would say if his answer would truly be, “No, I want to be the starter for the Pirates.” Because early in your career, rarely do you get a chance to, you know, see winning. And now he’s in winning. But early in your career, you’re also like, I want to maximize what my career can absolutely be. And so to me, if it were up to him, which it’s not, I would say I want to be a starter. Just the same as I was talking about with Mason Miller. Mason Miller is a tremendous all-star closer, but if you want to maximize what you can do, being a starter is a challenge, which players love challenges, but it’s also so much more value for him if he becomes successful. No players like, well, I don’t know if I’ll be successful or not. Of course you like that’s what you’re going to do. So, you might as well go to the position that would make would make you the most money and have the best career you can have because your careers are

AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, and Alanna Rizzo break down whether the Los Angeles Dodgers can pull off a historic three-peat. The crew looks at where LA must improve — from starting pitching depth to bullpen upgrades — and which international stars or top relievers could be realistic targets for the Dodgers this offseason. They also discuss the emerging closer market, the fit for Devin Williams in Los Angeles, and what Dalton Rushing’s role should be behind Will Smith in 2026.

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