Look How Different The Dodgers Roster Is Now

Mike Petriello 12/20/2014 Uncategorized 745 Comments

So much has happened, hasn’t it? It’s honestly hard to keep it all straight. You’d think that trading franchise icon Matt Kemp would be a big enough shock by itself, but no, the Dodgers had to go and do 15 other things at the same time. It’s been so crazy that I’m not sure we’ve yet properly appreciated that the Dodgers actually sold high on Dee Gordon, just like we wanted them to, to great effect.

At the end of the season, I did a “resetting the 40-man roster” post, but since so much has changed since then. That list included Kevin Correia and Onelki Garcia and  Roger Bernadina and Jose Dominguez! It’s time to update it. Here’s what happened, and where things stand.

What’s happened since Andrew Friedman arrived?

On Oct. 14, the Dodgers hired Friedman. On Nov. 5, Farhan Zaidi came from Oakland to be his GM. Remember that it was only 18 days ago that I was writing posts trying to calm people down about the seeming “lack of movement” from the new front office. Look at the entirety of the movement that’s happened in the just over two months that Friedman has been running the show, won’t you? (Note that these are just moves made, not including players who have reached free agency like Hanley Ramirez, Chris Perez, Mike Baxter, Carlos Triunfel, etc., and do include minor league moves.)

Coming: 

Going:

Just passing through:

Got all that? Moving on to the current 40-man roster…

Under Contract (17)

Arbitration Cases (5)

Team Control (18)

To Be Finalized (1)

…and exhale. As soon as the Anderson paperwork clears, the Dodgers will have to make one move to get someone off of the 40-man. Barring another trade, Bolsinger seems like the most vulnerable candidate for an immediate DFA, though “barring another trade” has proven to be a foolhardy expectation. We’ve heard reports that they want to clear out League. We know that Ethier is clearly on the market. Friedman himself said yesterday that he’s not done working on the bullpen. This isn’t over.

It’s a lot to take in, really. While I know not everyone liked the Kemp deal, it’s very difficult for me not to be more impressed with the 40-man roster than I was when the season ended. The fringes of the roster seem much stronger. The defense is better. The rotation and bullpen are better. The offense might not be, but the expectation is that the rest of the team can compensate for that. There’s a clear path to playing time for Pederson. There’s better depth, and fewer overpaid relievers. It’s been a shocking first two months for Friedman. It’s been everything we’d hoped it would be — and more.

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About Mike Petriello

Mike writes about lots of baseball in lots of places, and right now that place is MLB.com.
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