It’s the first official day of Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, so let’s get caught up on happenings and rumors before things (hopefully) get going for the Dodgers.
On Sunday, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman announced that the team has hired Jeff Kingston to be vice president and assistant general manager. Kingston had previously held the same position with the Seattle Mariners since 2009 and started his baseball operations career with the San Diego Padres in 2001.
The Dodgers have lost four members of their front office in the last year and a half, including Alex Anthopolos, Gabe Kapler, Jeremy Zoll, and most notably, Farhan Zaidi. Friedman has stated that finding another general manager was not high on his list of off-season to-do list, but Kingston is a great hire, and will presumably fill some of the GM duties left vacant by the departure of Zaidi.
As it is the Winter Meetings and as it is the Dodgers, there are a bunch of rumors of who the Dodgers are said to be interested in. A few to keep an eye on –
The Mets are listening to offers on Noah Syndergaard, but they would have to be blown away. Dennis touched on the Mets’ interest in Yasiel Puig yesterday in his column. This doesn’t seem like a very likely match, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Thor in the original Dodger Blue, that is not mixed with orange.
While Friedman has publicly stated that the bullpen and a catcher are his top priorities this off-season, second base is also a need. The Dodgers are showing continued interested in free agent DJ LeMahieu, according to Jon Morosi. Another name to keep an eye on is Scooter Gennett. The Cincinnati Reds are looking to hear offers on their second baseman, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Gennett has averaged 25 homers and an .859 OPS in the last two seasons, and may be too expensive for Cincinnati to pay after his arbitration. Scooter is a Dodger killer, and another player I wouldn’t mind seeing in Blue.
Lastly, Los Angles has some interest in free agent reliever David Robertson. The right-hander appeared in 69 games last year with the New York Yankees, and went 8-3 with a 3.23 ERA, 1.83 average against and a 1.03 WHIP. Robertson would be a nice bridge to Kenley Jansen in the ninth, or a great option for the ninth if Kenley had been brought in sooner, or if God forbid Jansen has any issues with his heart next year.
Dodgers fans are on the edge of their seats waiting to see what moves the team will make in Vegas, betting they make the right moves to bring a world championship back to Los Angeles.