After the Tyler Glasnow deal went down last week, the biggest question left for the Los Angeles Dodgers is how aggressively they will pursue another high-quality arm to create a formidable rotation.
We could talk forever about the specifics of Glasnow’s contract extension and what it means to the team going forward. The trade with the Rays was contingent on Glasnow agreeing to a five-year- $136 million deal, ensuring he’ll likely be around if or when Shohei Ohtani joins the rotation.
What the addition of the 30-year-old Glasnow means right now is that he essentially becomes the club’s No. 1 starter, at least until Walker Buehler proves he’s able to handle a normal starting workload. Bobby Miller is definitely in the picture, but whether someone like Emmet Sheehan is a member of the 2024 Opening Day rotation depends on how hard the team pursues Japanese righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto or another top-quality arm.
It doesn’t even make sense to speculate very far into the 2024 season based on what happened to the club in recent years on the injury front. Last year during spring training, the rotation was stacked up with names like Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Noah Syndergaard. Kershaw, however, was the only one of the five to make it to the playoffs, as brittle and beaten as he was.
Gonsolin will be out for the entirety of the 2024 season, but there’s a chance that May could return sometime around the All-Star break, give or take. There hasn’t been confirmation of a potential return by Kershaw, although he has begun baseball activities and believes he could make a return to the mound sometime next summer should he not decide to retire. If the Dodgers sign Kershaw and both he and May progress as expected, it could be an instant boost for the team by the time the summer trade deadline rolls around.
The thing about Glasnow is that he still hasn’t pitched a complete season since he was converted from a swing man to a full-time starter back in 2018. Last year, his 21 starts and 120 innings pitched were the most of his eight-year big league career. The native of Newhall, California, missed nearly all of 2022 after having UCL surgery and missed another two months in 2023 with an oblique strain.
With Ryan Pepiot gone, it takes a big chunk of the reserve starting pitching depth away, especially if Sheehan makes the 2024 Opening Day rotation. There’s still some talent left on the farm in players like Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, Nick Frasso, Kyle Hurt and Michael Grove, if the team is indeed committed to using Hurt and Grove as starters instead of relievers.
Still, based on the overall health of the starting rotation over the past few seasons, too many arms are never enough. Right now, all eyes are seemingly on Yamamoto.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I know it’s a big if, but IF Glasnow stays healthy, and gives the dodgers 150 innings +- he’s going to make a huge difference for that starting staff. Signing Yamamoto would be the icing on the cake.
I check every morning to see if Yamamoto has signed, but I think it will be another week or so before we get a decision. Hope I’m wrong, and we hear in the next day or two.
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Yamamoto is what’s next. It is time to go all
in with this current team. They have to do whatever it takes to beat out the Yankees. We need one more top of the rotation arm and spending money instead of prospects in a trade gives AF more leeway to possibly go after a late inning reliever in trade. Hader would be great but if I had to choose between signing Hader or Yamamoto it isn’t even close. You sign the 25 year old starter over the 30 year old closer. They need to go ahead and get Kike’ back, we need his versatility even with the addition of Manuel Margot. Lastly I’m intrigued if they are going to sign a left handed bat to platoon in LF with Chris Taylor. A reunion with Joc would be really cool and I think he’d love to come back but price is the big issue. Honestly I would be just fine if we brought David Peralta back on a dirt cheap 1 year deal. He wasn’t flashy but I thought he was very solid and he seemed to get along well with the team after being the enemy so long in Arizona. Overall this is an exciting squad but we have to get a front line starter as well as a back of the rotation lefty. I really hope Kershaw comes back around August but I would inquire about Ryu maybe coming back to give us a lefty in the starting 5.
1. Glasnow
2. Yamamoto
3. Buehler
4. Ryu/Kershaw
5. Bobby Miller
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I don’t see any way that Andrew signs Hader, Alex.
He’s already given up the 2nd and 5th draft picks next July by drafting Ohtani. If he signs Hader that means two more picks go. I just don’t see him giving up 4 picks in the same draft. Of course, he gets to make that choice, not me.
The Guardians have put out the word that they would be willing to listen on their closer, Emmanuel Clase. He had a bit of an off year last year, which meant he was only pretty good instead of pretty spectacular. Depending on the prospect cost, I’d definitely see what it would take to get him. He has 5 potential years of control remaining. Three under contract at very reasonable prices and then two team options.
The Guardians are always looking for hitters and we have Busch and Vargas, one of whom certainly won’t make the opening day roster. We also have an excess of catcher prospects. So maybe Busch or Vargas plus Cartaya or Rushing would make them sit up and take notice.
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Hey Alex I hope AF listens to you, goes all in, and signs Yamamoto. As far as bringing kike back I don’t think there is room for another right handed bat on the roster, after the trade for Margot.
The dodgers usually keep 13 pitchers, that leaves 13 batters/fielders. You have the starting eight (we’ll put Lux at SS, and Taylor in left, for this exorcise) that leaves five spots left.
1 Ohtani at DH, 2 Barnes is the back up at catcher, 3 Margot RH platoon in RF, back up CF, 4 Rojas back up infielder/ RH SS platoon, that leaves one spot. Those four guys all bat RH so the 26th spot HAS to go to a LH bat, maybe Busch gets a shot here, he can plat 2nd, 3rd, and a little bit of LF, IDK.
I love kike too, I just can’t figure out how it happens, unless they keep a 7 man bull pen, which I highly doubt. I think they would go 9 in the BP if it was allowed.
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Good analysis, Keith. AF is going to have some tough decisions to make with regard to those 4 bench players. I agree that there is no way he goes with fewer than 13 pitchers so that only leaves 4 spots after the starting 9.
The math doesn’t look very good for Busch and Vargas. I don’t see any way they both make the roster and maybe neither one of them, depending on trades between now and February.
In my opinion, the Yanks, Mets and Giants might all outbid us for Yamamoto, but we do have a few things in our favor. He grew up as a Dodger fan. He has a chance to be teammates with Ohtani. We’re the most successful of the four most logical destinations. He gets to choose and right now, we have no idea what’s most important to him. If it’s $$$, I don’t think we get him, but maybe it will be something else that makes him decide to come here. For now, we wait.
If we don’t get YY, I think Andrew will absolutely get someone else, but I have no idea which of the candidates that might be. I really think Yamamoto is the major prize here.
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Thanks for the article Dennis, Glasnow is the ultimate high risk high reward guy, Andrew is definitely tossing the dice here.
I’m kinda excited about the move, Glasnow is a great pitcher, but I know it could bite us in the backside.
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Just saw a report that has YY in NY meeting with the Mets, and Yanks, hope this is not an indication of a final decision.
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I would guess he’ll have another meeting with us and maybe the Giants as he flies back west on his way to Japan (if he goes home before he decides).
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Seeing the roster spots I am guessing Vargas and/or Busch are traded. Personally I am not a Taylor fan. Dodgers have lots of trade capital I don’t think AF wants to lose their other draft picks. I think they get another arm. Fans and media are so fickle they want their team to buy the biggest free agent. that said Yamamoto would finish off their needs. They don’t need bullpen arms as they have guys coming back from injury and young arms like Hurt, Grove and others that can contribute. I like Sheehan, Knack Frasso, Grove, Stone, Ryan or others competing.
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Now that I think about it YY met the Mets in Japan, and the Yankees here in LA, it only makes sense he would like to see the facilities for both NY teams. He’s seen the other contenders stadiums, but I know he was supposed to meet with Boston and Toronto but I never did hear if he did or not.
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I think he met with Boston and Philly. Not sure about Toronto.
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Let the bidding begin. Sounds like YY is starting to take formal offers, finally. I think there are going to be a couple of teams more desperate than us for his services, but if he wants the best chance to win, the most often, he would sign with the Dodgers. Not that I am biased, or anything.
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Too many red flags with Glasnow. Margot does not impress me at all. I think they need at least one more reliable starting pitcher. This guy is not it.
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How have you been Michael Norris, haven’t talked in a while, but I love the hot stove league, so I wandered back.
I’m not going to argue that Glasnow hasn’t got a history of missing games, but he also has the talent to be a cy young contender. I’m hoping for 150 games, plus being healthy for the playoffs, give me that, and I will be completely happy with his season.
As far as Margot goes he’s adequate. Until an injury slowed him down last season he was a very good defender. I’m not saying I would have signed him, but I understand why Andrew brought him in.
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Giants have been told they’re out of the running for Yamamoto.
At least if we don’t get him either, we can say they were out before we were. 🙂
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I could live with anywhere, but the Yankees.
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You think there is any chance this gets done before Xmas?
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My son and I were discussing that this past weekend and we both independently decided that we’d find out his decision this Saturday.
My son and I are often wrong when we agree on things. 🙂
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I would think he’d want to get this done, get home for the holidays, and have this all behind him. At least that would be my mindset.
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Hey did anyone else notice that Micheal Norris look an awful like the bear.
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Nobody has ever seen them both at the same time.
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I’ve got one more Xmas errand to run tomorrow, only need to go out to get my wife some nice flowers to put on the table, and I’m done.
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This is kind of like Samantha, and Sabrina Stevens😀
One of my favorite shows when I was growing up.
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I should have said Samantha Stevens, and her cousin Sabrina.
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We’ll have to ask Bear if he has a cousin who looks just like him.
Maybe his cousin’s name is Yogi.
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Lol 😀
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Holy crap, we got him, I guess Mark, Stan, and Andrew are tired of getting bounced out in the first round of the playoffs. talk about putting your money where your mouth is, Dodgers just dropped $1.16 billion in new players, plus another 25 mil to resign Max
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So THAT’s why he didn’t go to the Saints/Rams game with Ohtani! I love it! Chips pushed to the center of the table we are all in. Let’s go get it now! Imagine a rotation in 2025 of:
1. Ohtani
2. Yamamoto
3. Buehler
4. Glasnow
5. Bobby Miller (or Kershaw if he still wants to play
We just made a statement to the rest of the league. Now go find a LH bat to platoon in LF with Taylor and find a late inning reliever by trade or free agency. I’d love Hader but I think our big spending moves just stopped with Yamamoto. We have over a billion dollars in 2 Japanese players. Absolutely crazy times we live in! Sign Peralta on a cheap 1 year deal to platoon in LF and use Busch and Vargas as trade bait to find a reliever, preferably a lefty. We are stacked people!
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I’d rather just make Busch the lefty bat for LF. He’ll learn to be a passable left fielder and he could prove to be a better hitter than anyone we would sign.
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Do you guys think they will still go out and get a fifth starter, or let the the young guys fight it out for the last spot.
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They keep saying the Buehler might not be ready for the beginning of the season or that his work load during the season might be restricted so I wouldn’t be real surprised to see them add a fairly inexepensive veteran pitcher for the end of the rotation. I’d love to see them bring back Ryu on a 1 year deal.
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We need a lefty now that Urias’ career in MLB is most likely over and O I agree there would be no better choice than Ryu to be the 5th starter. They have been rumored to be interested in Lucas Giolito but I would still take Ryu. Then if Kershaw comes back and can pitch down the stretch obviously he goes in and Ryu goes to the pen. I expect him to go back to Korea for his last year or two so his time might be small here. If Busch can be a capable LF then by all means let him and Taylor have it but we have no idea if he can play the OF. They really want Arozarena in that Glasnow deal instead of Margot. He would have been the everyday guy though instead of a platoon. I will also be interested to see if they bring Kike’ back or not. They can always go the cheap and sage route and bring David Peralta back on a 1 year deal.
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Unless they trade somebody we aren’t expecting, I don’t see how they have room for Kike.
Assuming JHey gets most of the starts in RF and lets say CT3 in left, that leaves a bench of Barnes, Rojas, Margot and one of Vargas/Busch. If you trade both Vargas and Busch and sign Kike that gives you an all right handed bench.
I’m a huge fan of Steven Kwan of the Guardians. Great bat ball skills, speed, excellent outfielder, walks just about as often as he strikes out. Only thing he lacks is power and we have plenty of that at other positions. I’d love to see us put together a package of prospects and get Kwan and Klase but it would probably take more than AF is willing to part with.
Might have to start with Busch and Vargas plus some pitching or a catcher, or both.
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Jeff, if they don’t intend to put Busch on the roster this season, I hope they do trade him, it’s time for him to get his shot.
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Absolutely.
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AF could make a deal or start the season with what he has on the roster, and minors.
My guess is it’s going to depend on cost of acquisition, if he can get a Klase or a defensive whiz like Kwan for a good price, he can do it. He now has the luxury of not needing to do anything else unless the price is right. That’s got to be a great place to be sitting if you are AF.
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I see that Shelby miller signed with the tigers for 3 mil seems like at that price the Dodgers could have brought him back, especially when a lot of these middle relief guys are getting 8 to 10 mill a year. I’m kind of curious what happened there.
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You and me both, Keith. That’s a ridiculous contract and I think there’s a team option for a second year at something like 4.5 mil.
Meanwhile we paid 8 mil for the always-injured Mr. Kelly. Maybe AF knows he’s due for a year without injury. If so, it would probably be his first.
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I also wonder if they know something about Miller’s arm, but he looked awful good towards the end of the season, to have arm issues. I think they were so busy with YY that Shelby slipped through their fingers.
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I doubt he just slipped through. They have a pretty big front office staff.
Could have been an arm issue.
Could be that they planned to replace him with either Treinen or Feyereisen, both of whom are excellent when healthy and were injured last year.
Or it could be that they just assumed (as I did) that there was no way someone wouldn’t give him a guaranteed 2 year deal and they didn’t want to do that.
We’ll probably never know.
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Honestly i’m not worried about the pen. You can always piece one together to be decent if you have a great offense and starting pitching like we do. I’d have paid Miller what he got from Detroit but I also think he’s easily replaced. If you get Daniel Hudson and Trienen back to go with Ferguson, Graterol, Feyereisen, Kelly and Phillips you have a really good group right there. Landing Hader or trading for Klase would be bonus on top of the work AF has already done. There is ZERO chance AF gives a reliever $100 million like Hader wants so he was never coming here. I’d gladly trade Busch, Vargas, Cartaya, etc for a closer with team control like Klase but we also need a lefty bat to platoon in LF with Taylor. My choice isn’t the most popular but I really would like to see us being Peralta back. I thought he was solid throughout the year last season and even though he isn’t going to hit you 20 HR he is a solid at bat at the plate. If we could find a lefty bat with a good glove that has speed on the bases would be great to have but I wouldn’t be mad to see Peralta back.
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You’re right about the bullpen. Lots of possibilities, including one that I’m anxious to see in ST and hope he makes the squad. That’s Kyle Hurt.
We could do worse than to bring back Peralta. He was a real asset until he got hurt in the second half and his stats took a dive. But healthy, he was very good.
I still expect AF to bring in another starter. No idea if by trade or free agency but I expect someone will be added.
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Alex, you make good points about the bull pen, I had forgot some of those guys were coming back. If AF decides to go the veteran route, Peralta would be perfectly fine, he seem to fit well with the team, and he has always been a good clubhouse guy, plus they still have Busch if Peralta gets hurt, or struggles.
I must say I did like, Jeff’s idea he threw out the other day, of Klase, and Kwan in a trade. I had never thought of the two of those guys together before. Everyone knows Klase is good, but the more I started thinking about Kwan’s speed on defense, plus his on base skills, the more I like it. I’m sure the cost in prospects would be substantial, but we have a lot of guys that are blocked from a roster spot on the big team, so we might as well use them in a trade to make the team better if we are not going make room for them to play.
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I would be shocked if my trade suggestion would ever come to pass.
Kwan and Clase would take a boatload of prospects, more than I think AF would be willing to do.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the website http://www.baseballtradevalues.com, Keith, but if not, you might want to take a look. It’s great fun for a rainy winter’s day. They assign values to every player on every team roster and then you can put trades together. Values are based on excess value of salary vs. performance and years of control remaining.
To give you an idea of what their system shows a Clase/Kwan trade might look like, these players would qualify as a valid trade on their system:
Cartaya
Ferguson
Vargas
Busch
Grove
Stone
Sometimes the trades make absolutely no sense, but generally speaking, when actual trades are made by teams they, more often than not, work in the Trade Values system.
The upside is that both Guardians players will be playing their age 26 seasons next year. Kwan has 4 years of control remaining and is still earning MLB minimum. Klase has 3 years at under market pricing plus 2 team option years after that.
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That is a bigger boatload than I would have guessed, at that cost, I’d probably look in another direction, or hold those prospects for a more specific need at the deadline.
Thanks for the link I can use that whenever I want to pretend I’m Brandon Gomes.
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Can’t say that I disagree with your conclusion. Save some ammo for the deadline.
Feguson and Grove will probably make the opening day roster.
Stone and Cartaya definitely need more seasoning in the minors.
What concerns me is Vargas and Busch, especially Busch who has nothing left to prove in the minors. Sending him down again really doesn’t seem fair so if they don’t plan to keep him on the MLB roster, I hope they do him a favor and trade him.
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Vargas is hosed, there is no place for him to play, it’s a shame he couldn’t figure it out last season, when the pitchers adjusted to him, he wasn’t able to make the adjustment back.
He hit at every level he played, I think he could do the same in majors, given some time, but I can’t see how it could be here in LA, at this time. I don’t think he could headline a trade, but he could be a good kicker piece.
Busch is in a little different position he is going to make some sort of impact on the 2024 Dodgers, either as part of a LF platoon, or as part of a trade to bring in a veteran player.
At least that my opinion today, which can change, and usually does when I read someone else’s post.
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Did you see where Ohtani got Kelly’s wife a Porsche because she had an online campaign to get him to sign here. Said she’d make Joe give up his number if Shohei would join the Dodgers.
There was a video of her this morning when the car was delivered. She was totally shocked and speechless.
Every single thing I read or see about Ohtani makes me think he’s a really special person, never mind what he does on the field.
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Wishing everyone who reads and/or posts here a Very Merry Christmas and for those who don’t celebrate Christmas a very Happy Hannukah (slightly delayed), Kwanzaa, Festivus or whatever fits.
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I know the Marlins are looking for young controllable offensive pieces, and have some interesting starting pitching, Cabrera, Rogers, and even Luzardo’s names have all been floated around. I think the Dodgers would match up well with the Marlins by moving some of our blocked prospects. I’m not saying we have to make another trade for a SP, but if I’m BG I’d be keeping my eye on what the Marlins are doing.
BTW, I like all three of those guys, they’ve all had their problems, but they all three have tremendous up side.
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I would imagine there has been at least one phone call to the Marlins just to get the lay of the land. We’ll see if anything comes of it.
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Thank you Jeff, I hope you have a merry Xmas, and a happy holiday too.
I’d also like to wish all of the TBPC family happy holidays, especially Dennis, and Andy, whom without, we wouldn’t have this great place to talk, and share our love of our Boys in Blue.
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I’ll be back, I’ve got to go make the Xmas Jello
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