While in one of the biggest markets in Major League Baseball, many would expect the Los Angeles Dodgers to be active throughout much of the offseason.
However, while the Dodgers have attempted to make signings and trades, their efforts have largely been unsuccessful.
After hiring Dave Roberts as the club’s new manager, Los Angeles saw a trade for Aroldis Chapman fall apart, and the club backed away from a three-year agreement with Hisashi Iwakuma after his physical raised a red flag.
While the Dodgers were put off by allegations of Chapman’s involvement in a domestic violence incident in October at his home, the New York Yankees traded for the electric closer on Monday.
According to ESPN’s Dan Szymborski, the Dodgers are one of the teams who have underachieved this offseason:
Sorry Dodgers, while your team is still solid — likely the best roster in the NL West — that doesn’t mean you get a sterling grade for the winter term. It’s not for lack of trying; the Dodgers have been heavily in the running for most of the top free agents. But who ever heard of getting an A for attempted math? There’s some good news, though: The team’s science fair project “Can we sign Kenta Maeda?” is looking promising. Projected to have 3.5 WAR value, Maeda is the team’s last, best chance to leverage its impressive financial resources directly into wins.
The opinion was released prior to the Dodgers signing Scott Kazmir to a three-year contract on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Los Angeles reportedly has interest in Japanese righty Kenta Maeda.
In order to acquire the star pitcher, a team would have to pay a $20 million fee for the rights to negotiate with Maeda, then pay any salary agreed upon after that. While ESPN’s latest offering on the Dodgers is a critical one, not all is lost.
The publication recently projected the team to win the National League West in 2016, with two more wins next season than they had in 2015. Adding Kazmir is a step in the right direction for the Dodgers, who like most other teams, still have loose ends to tie up.
