In previous years, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been very active at the annual baseball Winter Meetings, trading Matt Kemp for Yasmani Grandal in 2014 and re-signing Rich Hill a year ago, among other several transactions.
But after a 104-win season in which they came one game short of winning a World Series, the Dodgers do not currently have any glaring needs. They are set to return most of their nucleus of 2018, plus receive Andrew Toles back from an ACL injury.
While the Dodgers were involved in discussions to sign Shohei Ohtani or trade for Giancarlo Stanton, they ultimately did not land either. Additionally, Los Angeles lost a key piece in reliever Brandon Morrow, who has reportedly inked a two-year contract with the Chicago Cubs.
Despite missing out on the three players, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said they are not going to force matters at this year’s Winter Meetings due to their desire to get under the luxury tax threshold.
Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi agreed with that statement, and said if the club is to make a move this week, it will more likely be in the form of a trade than a free-agent signing, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Zaidi said trades are more likely than free agent signings for the Dodgers in the next week. He expects the next two weeks to be busy in the industry after a slow winter.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) December 12, 2017
A trade would make the most sense, as the Dodgers possibly may be able to unload one of their expiring contracts — Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir or Brandon McCarthy. Though, manager Dave Roberts said he expects Gonzalez to be with the team next season.
The Dodgers also have a deep farm system, and given how many young players already occupy starting positions at the Major League level, they can afford to dip into that to either trade for an impact player or rid themselves of an expiring contract.
