Looking ahead to the offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers will have decisions to make on several key players expected to reach free agency. Chief among them will be Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager, as each is on track to hit the open market.
Kershaw is in the final season of a three-year, $93 million contract extension he signed after the 2018 campaign. Seager is one of four premier shortstops that can become a free agent this winter, along with Javier Baez, Carlos Correa and Trevor Story.
Despite having recently handed out two of the most lucrative contracts in MLB history to Mookie Betts and Trevor Bauer, the consensus around baseball is that the Dodgers will do whatever it takes to keep Seager around for the long run.
That didn’t stop one anonymous executive from voting for the possibility of L.A. trading the 27-year-old at the deadline to bolster other areas of the roster, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com:
“I wonder if there was a deal there that could make the Dodgers consider it,” the exec said. “They would still have a winning team without him on the roster. The problem would be that they would be helping a team they could potentially be competing with in October. But that front office is pretty creative and is willing to take chances.”
The executive’s logic is the Dodgers could get a haul for Seager, replace his production with a player already in the organization and still be a World Series contender.
The problem, however, is most teams with potential interest in Seager are trying to win now and could stand in the way of L.A. repeating this October.
While the prospect of Seager being traded is slim to none, an earlier report suggested the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers could pursue him if he becomes a free agent after the 2021 season.
Seager won’t discuss or be distracted by free agency
Wanting to keep the focus on the 2021 season, Seager maintained throughout Spring Training he wouldn’t discuss or be distracted by his upcoming free agency.
“I don’t really want to talk about that, to be honest,” Seager said in March when asked if there had been contract extension negotiations with the Dodgers.
“That’s not the focus at all. The focus is right now. We’ve preached for a long time that it’s day to day. We’re showing up and we’re doing everything we can to be ready today. Once games start, try to win a game that day. There’s no other thinking.”
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