The first attempt at guessing the Opening Day roster for the Dodgers happened over a month ago and already seems quite outdated, so let’s have another go at it now that there’s been further clarity achieved following the games getting underway.
Again, you’d think a team like this wouldn’t have many battles, and yet there are a bunch.
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Position Player Locks (12)
10 holdovers from last time and Espinal gets added because Dave Roberts has all but guaranteed he’s in. Also adding Call despite it being mentioned that the Dodgers are taking it slow with him due to a foot issue, as he’s been playing fine in the games.
So these 12 guys are making the team, barring a trade or injury. That would probably leave two spots open for position players.
Position Player Candidates (4)
Tommy Edman was confirmed to begin the year on the IL, Andy Ibanez is now on the Athletics, and Ryan Ward has been cut/miserable thus far (Michael Siani has been bad as well), so I’m removing them from contention. The lack of legit outfielders will probably boost Kim’s chances even further.
Speaking of, that would leave just one spot open following Espinal’s promotion. Thus, it’s effectively Kim vs. Freeland, with Senzel and Fitzgerald kinda lurking in case of injury (which might’ve happened).
Pitcher Locks (8)
Sheehan gets demoted just because he only recently made his Spring debut and it’s now possible he doesn’t get sufficiently built up by the start of the season.
Anthony Banda is no more, which really shouldn’t have been that surprising, but I still kinda was in a way. At risk of another lefty reliever making this prediction incorrect, I’m promoting Dreyer to a lock. He probably deserved it anyway, honestly.
Regardless, the end result is effectively three rotation spots and three bullpen spots probably being up for grabs.
Pitcher Candidates (12)
Rotation (6): Emmet Sheehan, Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski, River Ryan, Landon Knack, Cole Irvin
Bullpen (6): Ben Casparius, Will Klein, Kyle Hurt, Edgardo Henriquez, Paul Gervase, Antoine Kelly
Okay, so Blake Snell, Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, and Brock Stewart have all but been confirmed to start the year on the IL, meaning there are real opportunities here.
As mentioned, Sheehan might not get entirely built up by the start of the season, but it’s still very unlikely he’ll be left off the roster entirely unless something weird happens. For the rest, based on usage and order so far in Spring Training, it seems like Roki, Wrobo, and Ryan are really in a fight, with the other two as more emergency options. Roki will still be given every chance to win his spot, but at some point he needs to show he can get outs as a starter. Wrobo feels ahead of Ryan right now, but that could easily change over the next month, and he has the advantage of having swingman experience.
As for the pen, there are a lot of spots but not a ton of realistic candidates. It’s likely between Casparius, Klein, Henriquez (pitching himself out of a spot), and Hurt (pitching himself into a spot) for the three openings, while Gervase and Kelly are dark horses based on their stuff and performances. Also, I did remove Bobby Miller and Ronan Kopp, the former because of arm trouble (and he was a question mark anyway) and the latter because he was just cut (but there was a lefty surplus (and Kelly’s looking better anyway)).
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26-Man Roster
Rotation (5): Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan, Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski
Bullpen (8): Edwin Diaz, Tanner Scott, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer, Ben Casparius, Will Klein, Kyle Hurt
Catchers (2): Will Smith, Dalton Rushing
Infielders (5): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Santiago Espinal
Outfielders (4): Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernandez, Andy Pages, Alex Call
Utility (1): Hyeseong Kim
Shohei Ohtani (1 Of A Kind): Shohei Ohtani
The Dodgers will likely only need a five-man rotation for a month or so due to the amount of early off days they have, so whichever starters they keep might be used as swingmen or piggybacked or something. That reality makes a stronger case for Sheehan, Wrobo, and even Roki over Ryan in the end.
While I think the Dodgers would’ve liked Henriquez to stake his claim in the pen, Hurt is the one actually doing that instead in the fight for the last spot. Gervase could be a dark horse here should anybody get injured, and I think they like Kelly, but they already have three (arguably four) lefties as it is. Hard to see Casparius or Klein getting demoted at this point unless they completely lose the zone or something in the next month.
Given the positivity from the Dodgers for Kim in the press recently, it certainly seems like he has the inside track to get the last spot, and he might even get regular starts at second until reinforcements arrive. Freeland would then be the odd man out despite making a strong case for himself, mostly due to Kim’s ability to play the outfield and (quite frankly) his contract. The wrinkle? Reports are he jammed his hand/finger into the base during his last WBC game, and he had to miss their potential elimination game, so all this depends on how serious that was.
The Others
The roster and depth unfortunately tends to have a way of sorting itself out over the course of a season, but if everybody does remain healthy into like June or July … man, that crunch is gonna be something.
Discuss.
