2020 record - 43-17, 1st place in the NL West
Key Addition - Trevor Bauer
In a shock to absolutely no-one, we've picked Trevor Bauer as the key off season addition to the Dodgers.
They re-signed a number of key free agents too though with Justin Turner heading the list. Turner had become a fan favourite in Los Angeles and re-signing him to a 2 year $34m contract this winter made too much sense; both for the team and the player.
The Dodgers gain another 2 years of consistent production from the 3rd base position and Turner gets two more years with a World Series contender and a ton of money too, of course.
Turner has hit over .300 with 367 extra base hits and 28.9 WAR in his 7 seasons with the Dodgers. But perhaps more importantly for them, he has very similar numbers in the postseason too.
We think that Justin Turner hits around .285 with over 20 home runs for the Dodgers this season.
But by far the biggest addition to the Dodger team this offseason is Trevor Bauer; the reigning National League Cy Young winner.
He wasn't cheap though. Bauer signed a mammoth 3 year $102m contract in February which is the 6th highest AAV contract of all time.
However, as is the case with many things, you often get what you pay for. And in Bauer, the Dodgers get a player coming off a dominant 2020 performance who would be the ace starting pitcher on just about any other team in the Major Leagues. Signing him as a free agent is a bonus too because the Dodgers keep their farm system fully intact.
But let's just take a quick look at Bauer's 2020 numbers for a minute because they are just ridiculous.
A 1.73 ERA, an MLB leading 5.1 hits/9 and a .219 OBP. All of that amounted to a 2.8 WAR, of which only 5 NL players (including batters) had higher than in 2020.
It's not surprising to see how he won the Cy Young award and came in the top 10 for MVP votiing.
It might be of some concern that Bauer's career numbers before last season were really good, but not as good as they were in 2020. Before last season, he had an ERA just over 4 and allowed 8.1 hits/9.
We are inclined to think that Bauer will be really good this season but that Dodger fans probably shouldn't expect numbers that are quite as good as last year.
We predict that Bauer wins 16 games and finishes the year with an ERA around 3.40 in 2020.
Just missed out - Justin Turner
Key Departure - Joc Pederson
Pederson left as a free agent this winter and signed a 1 year $7m deal with the Chicago Cubs.
Pederson had spent his whole career in Los Angeles and was outstanding value after being picked in the 11th round of the 2010 draft.
He leaves the Dodgers with a .230 career average, 130 home runs and 10.6 WAR over 7 seasons, but he will probably be best remembered for his outstanding hitting in the 2017 and 2020 playoffs.
In those two World Series against the Astros and Rays, Pederson had a .357 average with 6 extra base hits in 28 at bats. His hitting went a long way to helping the Dodgers win their first championship since 1988.
But Pederson played the 2nd most games at DH for the Dodgers last year and with the DH not being used in the National League this season, the Dodgers likely saw Pederson as somewhat expendable. They did attempt to trade him across LA last year only to have the deal cancelled by Angels owner Arte Moreno.
They've got an excellent 4th OF/Utility guy in Chris Taylor and Edwin Rios can play LF if needed too, so we expect that Los Angeles will be just fine this season without Pederson.
Notable rookie cards - Keibert Ruiz, Mitch White
The Dodgers have two rookie representatives in the Topps 2021 Series 1 set.
Catcher Keibert Ruiz made a very brief Major League debut in 2020 when he appeared in two games and got a couple hits including his first home run. Ruiz is the top Dodger prospect and 57th overall according to MLB Pipeline. And it's clear to see why he's highly rated when you look at his minor league numbers.
In 5 minor league seasons, Ruiz has hit .299 and 111 extra base hits which are incredible numbers out of the catcher position. He's a switch hitter but hit with more power as a left hander; with 93% of his professional home runs being hit left handed.
There have been some question marks around his defence though and he has been said to have been working on this at the Dodgers' alternative training camp.
We think that Ruiz will start the year at AAA Oklahoma City and will be called up again if Will Smith or Austin Barnes are hit by injury.
Mitch White made an outstanding first impression in an extremely small sample size last year. White pitched just 3 innings for the Dodgers in 2020 but gave up only one hit and didn't surrender any runs. He picked up his first win too.
But Los Angeles view him as a starting pitcher moving forward and will want to give him a little more time in the minor leagues before calling him up again.
White struggled at AAA in 2019 where he had a 6.64 ERA and worrying 1.524 WHIP over 63.2 innings and 13 starts. If he can get his decent fastball-curveball combination working well, then we think he gets called up again at some point this season. But we predict that he starts the season in the rotation at AAA.
Predicted 2021 Team MVP - Mookie Betts
Wow. Where do you start?
The Dodgers have at least 8 players on their roster who are legitimate MVP candidates. We've already mentioned Trevor Bauer who joins a formidable rotation alongside future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler. They've got Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger in their line-up too; all of whom are All-Stars.
But we think that even though all the above have excellent seasons, it is Mookie Betts who has the best season in LA and will be their MVP.
It's incredible to think that Betts was once a 5th round pick in the draft when you consider how good his career has been to date. He has a career batting average over .300, he has 155 home runs, he's a 4 time All Star, a 5 time Gold Glove winner, he's won a batting title, an MVP and 2 World Series.
And those are just some of the many accolades he has won.
The label of being a "5 tool player" gets thrown around a lot. But Mookie Betts is a true 5 tool player. He offers outstanding defence in rightfield, hits for both average and power and he's usually good for close to 30 stolen bases per season.
We think that he has another season where he contends for NL MVP and he hits close to .300 with well over 30 home runs in 2021.
Player to watch for the future - Josiah Gray
Gray was a 2nd round draft pick for Cincinnati and came to the Dodgers in the Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp & Alex Wood trade in 2018.
He is currently the #2 top prospect for the Dodgers and the 58th overall according to MLB Pipeline.
Gray has two years of minor league baseball under his belt and he quickly shot up the Los Angeles farm system once he arrived. In 2019, he quickly graduated to AA after impressing at each of the levels below.
There are a lot of his minor league numbers which are impressive, but the one which stands out to us is that he surrendered only 3 home runs in 130 innings in 2019. That's just 0.2 homeruns per 9 innings.
He has very respectable strikeout numbers (10/2 K/9) and WHIP (0.960) in his minor league career too.
We think that Gray will most likely start the season at AAA Oklahoma City - his highest level to date - and that the Dodgers watch him closely. We predict that fans will see him pitch at Chavez Ravine sometime around the All-Star break.
Storyline to keep an eye on - Can they win the NL West for the 9th straight season?
The Dodgers have had something of a monopoly on top spot in the NL West for a number of years now, but we think that they will face their biggest challenge this season.
The Padres have been arguably the most aggressive and most improved team this offseason. They have made blockbuster trades and made some very good free agent signings, which mean they are a significantly better team than the one which finished 6 games back in the NL West last year.
The Padres already had a very good team and their new acquisitions make them serious challengers to the Dodgers.
We think that these two teams will battle at top of the NL West all season long and we can't wait to see how it pans out at the end of the season.
Prediction for 2021 - 1st in the NL West
It'll be a fantastic battle between Los Angeles and San Diego for 1st place in the NL West and we don't think that the Dodgers will win it by much...But they will win it. Just.
We think that the Dodgers have the best rotation in baseball, some outstanding veteran hitters and some exciting youngsters that we haven't even mentioned yet - we think Dustin May and Gavin Lux both have the potential to have excellent seasons. That's how good this team is.
By the time the regular season comes to an end, we fully expect that both the Dodgers and Padres have two of the best records in all of baseball. They will both comfortably make the playoffs and that is where the real fun will begin...
Do you agree with our predictions? Or have we got them horribly wrong?
Let us know in the comments or on twitter.
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