Offseason Outlook: Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers fell short in their pursuit of a three-peat but the roster is still loaded with talent for another run in 2027. Guaranteed Contracts Shohei Ohtani, RHP/DH: $490MM through 2033 ($68MM deferred annually) Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RHP: $248MM through 2035 (Yamamoto has conditional opt-outs after 2029 and 2031) Mookie Betts, SS: $205MM through 2032 (including $35MM of signing bonus still owed; $65MM of remaining salary deferred) Kyle Tucker, OF: $185MM through 2029 (including $10MM of signing bonus still owed; $10MM of salary deferred annually; last two years are player options) Blake Snell, LHP: $78MM through 2029 ($13.2MM deferred annually; deal includes conditional 2030 club option) Will Smith, C: $70.45MM through 2033 ($5MM deferred annually) Tyler Glasnow, RHP: $51.5625MM through 2028 (final year is club/player option) Edwin Díaz, RHP: $46MM through 2028 ($4.5MM deferred annually; deal includes conditional 2029 club option) Tanner Scott, LHP: $40MM through 2028 (including $10MM of signing bonus still owed; $5.25MM of salary deferred annually; includes conditional 2029 club option) Tommy Edman, IF/OF: $39.75MM through 2029 (including buyout of 2030 club option; $6.25MM of salary deferred annually) Freddie Freeman, 1B: $27MM through 2027 ($12MM deferred) Teoscar Hernández, OF: $21MM through 2027 (includes $6.5MM buyout on 2028 club option; $8MM of salary deferred; deal has conditional 2029 club option) Max Muncy, 3B: $13.75MM through 2027 (including buyout of 2028 club option) Hyeseong Kim, IF/OF: $5.25MM through 2027 (including buyout of 2028 club option) Option Decisions None 2027 financial commitments: $362.25MM ($142.2MM deferred) Total future commitments: $1.52 billion Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) Brock Stewart (5.093): $1.8MM Jake Cousins (4.091): $1MM Alex Call (3.161): $1.9MM Emmet Sheehan (3.063): $2.1MM Gavin Stone (3.034): $1.2MM Andy Pages (2.155): $4.9MM Non-tender candidates: Cousins, Call, Stone Free Agents Tarik Skubal, Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Kris Bubic, Eric Lauer, Brusdar Graterol, Miguel Rojas (retired), Enrique Hernández The area with the most uncertainty for the Dodgers is the pitching staff. Shohei Ohtani was injured for the second half of the 2026 season. His last appearance on the mound was July 3. He continued hitting but his results were way below his usual level of production. Ohtani is going to avoid surgery and the expectation is that he will be fully healthy for next year. There may come a time where he’s no longer a two-way player but the plan is for him to continue doing both in 2027. What’s unclear right now is if the injury-marred 2026 leads to a different plan of attack from Ohtani and the Dodgers. Will they aim for a full starter’s workload or something different? Deadline pickup Tarik Skubal is headed to free agency, which is another question for the rotation. The Dodgers will surely have interest in re-signing him and will be one of the favorites. They are generally in the mix for all top talents on the open market and have signed many of them over the years. Bringing Skubal back might require the Dodgers to go to an area they usually try to avoid. Even though they have signed many big contracts over the years, they usually avoid really long deals except for special circumstances. They have signed dozens of free agents to eight-figure deals over the past decade, as shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, but only two of those were longer than six years. Those were both special circumstances. One was for Ohtani, who is a unicorn player. The other was for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was available at the unusually young age of 25. The Dodgers usually prefer to stay in the mix on a free agent and hope he becomes willing to do a shorter deal. That’s what happened with Kyle Tucker last year. This approach has been described as “hanging around the backboard.” If a player has the juice to get a really long deal, it’s usually with someone other than the Dodgers. 21 free agents have signed deals of seven years or longer in the past decade. The Dodgers got Ohtani and Yamamoto, but Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Dylan Cease and plenty of others signed elsewhere. Skubal should be able to surpass the seven years Cease got. Fried got eight years and Cole got nine. Skubal will be 30 next month, one year older than Cole was but one year younger than Fried, so either an eight- or nine-year deal should be possible. Would the Dodgers do something like that? Is there some way they could convince Skubal to do a Tucker-style short-term deal with opt-outs? Even without Ohtani or Skubal, it’s not as though the rotation is in bad shape. They have Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow in three spots. Snell and Glasnow have been fairly injury prone but finished the 2026 season healthy. Roki Sasaki had an encouraging campaign and will look to build on that next year. Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, Landon Knack, Ben Casparius and others will be in the mix for a spot. Prospect Christian Zazueta will get a roster spot this winter to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Adam Serwinowski, Jackson Ferris and others could get roster spots as well. Gavin Stone could be in the mix but he missed almost all of 2026 with shoulder problems, so there’s a chance the Dodgers don’t tender him an arbitration contract. With all those arms, plus Ohtani, the Dodgers don’t really need to go after Skubal. But that was also the case at the 2026 deadline and they decided to go for it. They also don’t really have another obvious target for the offseason. The bullpen will need some work but the position player group is largely set. Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker