The Dodgers held a press conference yesterday to officially introduce the new signings Kyle Tucker. President of baseball Andrew Friedman spoke to the media and downplayed the possibility of anything else significant happening the rest of the season. As relayed by reporters such as Jack Harris of The California Post and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, he said the lineup “feels pretty good” and that there are no more “earthquakes” to come. When asked if they are in the market to start singing, he said “No.”
It’s always possible that Friedman could withhold information for the purposes of negotiating with other clubs or free agents, as front office managers are known to play with the truth at times. For the Dodgers specific example, about a year ago, the general manager Brandon Gomes reduce the chances of a Gavin Lux exchange after the signing of the team Hyeong Kim. Lux was sold to the Reds three days later.
But it also wouldn’t be surprising if the Dodgers made some big moves at this point. The roster turned out to be pretty good, as they had just won the World Series. Most of that roster is still intact, as none of the key guys reached free agency at the end of the season. They have already made two major changes with the addition Edwin Díaz in the bullpen and Tucker in the outfield. They have few, if any, weak points.
Looking at the rotation specifically, there is a lot of talent on paper. They have it Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki again Emmett Sheehan like the six names that could be at the top of the chart at the moment.
An additional argument will be associated with uncertainty in that group. Yamamoto was the only one of those six to surpass the 91 innings pitched in the regular season last year. Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2024 while recovering from UCL surgery, then had surgery on his non-throwing shoulder at the end of that season. Sheehan underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024. Both return to the mound in June of 2025. Snell, Glasnow and Sasaki have significant injury histories and missed time due to shoulder problems last year.
Given the question marks there, it may be necessary to add them. The Dodgers were linked to Freddy Peralta earlier this month and it is said that they were still engaged as of two days ago. He is no longer an option for the Dodgers, however, as the Brewers traded him to the Mets last night. For the record, Friedman’s comments were made before that trade went down. Even with Peralta off the board, free agency still has it Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen and others. MacKenzie Gore it is one of the few possible trade-in candidates still available.
Hoping all of their projected starters stay healthy would be a risky move for the Dodgers but their depth should be better than last year. Ryan River again Kyle Hurt both underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024, Ryan in August and Hurt in July. Gavin Stone missed 2025 due to shoulder surgery. Those three should be better health wise by 2026. They all have options and could be in the Triple-A rotation next to the guys Justin Wrobleski again Landon Knack.
If Friedman is right and plans to stick with the existing starting lineup, that would be safe as the team has a chance to be healthier than in 2025. So a lot of these guys were recovering from surgery for at least part of the 2025 season but those procedures are now a bit on the back burner. On the other hand, new injuries are inevitable, so adding some depth with less movement may be in order.
Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images
