NFL
By: George Lopez
The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the 2023 offseason looking to make improvements to their roster via trades and free agency. During the season, stories would come out about the pursuit of Shohei Ohtani once free agency began. Though they could not talk about Ohtani, their interest in signing him was the worst-kept unspoken secret in baseball. At the conclusion of the 2023 winter meetings, Los Angeles was able to get their white whale when it was announced Ohtani agreed to a 10-year, $700 million deal.
The two-time A.L. MVP will be part of one of the most formidable tops of the lineup along with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Once the signing was announced, their odds of winning the 2024 World Series were vastly improved. Dodgers fans have never shown this amount of excitement over a free agent signing and have begun making plans for a World Series parade. Fans need to put a pause on those plans. The current roster still has quite a few holes to fill before the start of the 2024 season to be a serious threat to win the World Series. The Dodgers will be contenders, but this is still the team that has been eliminated from the Division Series for the past 2 years. There is still work that needs to be done to improve the roster.
When you look at Ohtani’s contract, not only does the deal have no opt-outs, but the 700 million dollars and an average annual salary of $70 million is eye-opening. An interesting part of the deal is a majority of Ohtani’s $70 million yearly salary is going to be deferred. The deferment of his annual salary was requested by Ohtani himself. Ohtani made this request to help with the luxury tax as well as allow them to still have the financial flexibility to improve the roster by signing other free agents and being active in the trade market.
What’s Next For The Dodgers?
With the signing of Ohtani complete, the focus of their attention is on improving their starting rotation. Though Ohtani just inked a $700 million deal, the Dodgers are still a serious contender to sign pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The free agent from Japan is expected to land a contract worth at least $200 million. Yamamoto would give us a top-of-the-rotation ace. Blake Snell remains available, though it does not appear any serious interest in the free agent from San Diego. In terms of possible trades, they have been linked to Dylan Cease from the White Sox, Tyler Glasnow from Tampa as well and Shane Bieber from Cleveland. Look for the team to make a trade for at minimum 1 starting pitcher while they make a push for Yamamoto via free agency.
Shohei Ohtani and where he would sign was the biggest news story during the winter meetings. The boys in blue were able to make the biggest splash in free agency with the signing of Ohtani. Fans are at a fevered pitch with Ohtani joining a lineup that includes Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. The roster as it stands right now is still very beatable and President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman knows this. Friedman’s work is just getting started. Ohtani was his white whale but Friedman knows they will need to improve their pitching and he will continuously work to bring in the players that will help get the Dodgers not only to the World Series but to win the World Series. This is an exciting time to be a Dodgers fan, but the excitement is only getting started. What do you think about the deal and what it means to the team and Major League Baseball?
