The Dodgers’ season is done, and so is the chase for a three-peat. The offseason technically waits until after the World Series, but Andrew Friedman and the front office already know what’s coming next: a longer-than-usual winter, a CBA that expires on December 1, and a lockout that is unanimously expected.
That freeze will put baseball operations on hold while MLB and the Players Association battle over economic and non-economic issues. For the Dodgers, it also means a roster churn that could stretch from early moves to a late-spring scramble once the labor situation is resolved. They have nine free agents to sort through, and plenty of those decisions feel immediate.
Tarik Skubal stands at the top of the list, and the market around him looks massive. He’s expected to land $400 million or more, with the New York Mets reportedly ready to match any offer he gets.
That sets up the bidding to come down to New York and LA, no matter how many rumors pop up about outside teams getting involved. Skubal wasn’t quite as overpowering right after the trade from the Detroit Tigers, but he settled in by September and reminded everyone why he’s viewed as one of the game’s elite arms.
The Dodgers love him, and his teammates love him too, but if the Mets are truly willing to go all in, this one could get tense.
Alex Vesia looks like the cleanest fit to come back. Of all the pitchers on this list, he has the strongest case to return, and he gives off the kind of vibe that suggests he would stick with the Dodgers even if other teams come calling.
He has been one of Dave Roberts’ most trusted bullpen arms since 2024 and held that role this season as well. The Dodgers got him for $3.55 million this year after exercising a club option, and he should be in line for a bigger payday without becoming a wildly expensive one.
Evan Phillips is more complicated. He has been one of the best examples of what the Dodgers do well in player development, turning a waiver claim from the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021 into a dominant bullpen weapon. But the Dodgers haven’t seen that version of Phillips since 2023, and with younger arms pushing for more stable spots, he could be squeezed out.
Blake Treinen feels like a retirement watch candidate. He got injured on the second-to-last day of the season, couldn’t return for the postseason, and is now 38. The expectation around him is that an announcement could come soon, and the Dodgers should not be planning on bringing him back.
Miguel Rojas already appears headed toward the end of the line. He had been a fixture on the roster since 2023 after returning from the Miami Marlins, but his exit mid-at-bat in the NLDS was a reminder of just how old he is among Dodgers position players.
Rojas has said he wants a future in management and is aiming for a role in the front office after his playing days. He had been open to playing one more year, but after Game 4 he announced that he will indeed retire.
The Dodgers should steer him toward the “special advisor” path.
Kiké Hernández is the kind of player who doesn’t need to be a first-round priority to end up back in Dodger blue. He’s not likely to be the first name on the offseason board, but he also isn’t eager to go anywhere else.
He waited on Friedman before when the Dodgers re-signed him in February 2025 and 2026, both times as one of the final moves of the offseason and both times announcing the return himself. That pattern could easily repeat in 2027 once the lockout ends.
Eric Lauer’s Dodgers stint brought mixed value. The club clearly liked getting him from the Toronto Blue Jays after their messy split and then turning him into an effective swingman.
Still, the Dodgers probably should have moved him at the deadline. Friedman reportedly asked Lauer and Alex Call how they’d feel about a trade, and both wanted to stay.
The Dodgers kept them, Lauer got hurt a month later, and Call didn’t make the NLDS or NLCS rosters. That turned into a missed chance.
Kris Bubic’s deadline arrival was a surprise, but he did enough to make it look like a smart one. He finished the regular season with 4⅔ scoreless innings after returning from the IL. The postseason didn’t go nearly as well, and the expectation here is that the Dodgers let him walk.
Brusdar Graterol is the clearest non-tender type on the board. The Dodgers clearly loved what he did in 2023, when he threw 67⅓ innings with a 1.20 ERA, and they have stuck with him through a long series of injuries since then.
He last appeared in a major league game on September 24, 2024, after missing more than four months to start that season and then another stretch after a brief ⅓-inning outing in August. This year began with a “slow played” spring as he came back from shoulder surgery, but he was back on the 60-day IL by Opening Day.
He tried to come back in May, got through 3⅓ innings in a Triple-A rehab assignment, then was pulled off it and underwent back surgery on June 1. Even if he says he feels great later in the winter, the Dodgers need to move on.
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