The Los Angeles Dodgers learned in 2024 that a team can truly never have enough pitching.
While the Dodgers entered the year expecting to have a surplus of starting pitching, come October, they only had three viable starters — Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty (who they acquired at the trade deadline), and Walker Buehler (who was coming off the worst regular season of his career).
Nevertheless, the Dodgers managed to win the World Series, and they’re expecting to get plenty of pitching reinforcements back next year such as Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and, of course, Shohei Ohtani. However, that doesn’t mean the team won’t be active in search of even more starting pitching help as L.A. hopes to avoid a similar situation as they faced in the 2024 postseason.
The most obvious starting pitching target for the Dodgers is Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki, who will likely be posted in January and command just the team’s international bonus pool. However, even if the Dodgers land Sasaki, they plan to be active in search of another top-end starting pitcher.
According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman: “The Dodgers are looking into ace free agents Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, and word is that assuming they land Sasaki, they’ll try for one more big pitcher. They’ll also consider re-signing Walker Buehler, a frequent October hero.”
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi recently called the Dodgers one of two front runners for Corbin Burnes alongside the incumbent Baltimore Orioles. Moreover, Fried is an obvious fit as he’s from Los Angeles and would be returning to the team he grew up watching.
Finally, there’s Snell, who the Dodgers have had interest in before, and could very well try to bring back again.
If the Dodgers were able to sign Sasaki and one of those top three pitchers, they could field a 2025 rotation that looks something like this (assuming everyone is healthy):
- Shohei Ohtani
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Tyler Glasnow
- Corbin Burnes/Max Fried/Blake Snell
- Roki Sasaki
- Tony Gonsolin/Dustin May
That doesn’t even include the expected return of Clayton Kershaw, and the potential return of Walker Buehler (although Buehler would probably not be re-signed if L.A. signed two starting pitchers).
Either way, the Dodgers know they need to address their biggest issues from a year ago if they want to go back-to-back in 2025. Adding starting pitching is the first step toward doing just that.
