Kyle Tucker Is the best free agent in this year’s class. That more or less guarantees he’ll be linked to the two-time defending champion. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote last month that the Dodgers were likely to pursue Tucker this offseason.
That may be the case, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes that the Dodgers don’t seem inclined to make a decade-long commitment to the star outfielder. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic wrote last night that while the Dodgers haven’t ruled out pursuing Tucker, they’re also not opposed to making a short-term outfield move while waiting for internal reinforcements to arrive.
In the short term, the Dodgers’ biggest weaknesses are the outfielders and late-inning relief. Michael Conforto Definitely not coming back after his one-year free agent contract fell apart. Kiké HernandezTheir primary left fielder in the postseason is also a free agent. Andy Pages A poor second half and a terrible playoff run. Tommy Edelman A season-ending ankle injury led to the Dodgers preferring him as a second baseman. (He is undergoing surgery and is expected to participate at full strength in spring training.) Teoscar Hernandez is a relative weakness in right field. He hit .247/.284/.454 against poor defense.
Assuming the Dodgers plan to keep Mookie Bates At shortstop, the outfield is in poor shape right now. It will likely go with Page, Edelman and Hernandez as the primary options. Alex Call and Ryan Ward — the latter of whom was just added to the 40-man roster to prevent him from hitting minor league free agency — could line up in left field if the Dodgers want Edelman to play infield.
They’ll need to make some kind of outside acquisition, but it’s understandable if they don’t want to extend free agency. The long-term outfield outlook is more promising than the current combination. In August, Baseball America drafted four Dodgers outfielders (Josue de Paula, Zishir Hope, Mike Sirota and Eduardo Quintero) ranks among the top 60 overall prospects in the sport. This excludes the most compelling prospects Dalton Rushwhose path to the plate behind the plate is will smith. Rushing didn’t play any outfield in his rookie season but logged less than 300 career innings as a left fielder in the minor leagues.
Of the above prospects, only Rushing could make an MLB roster in early 2026. Sirota and Quintero have yet to reach Double-A. DePaola and Hope played a combined 10 games at this level. None of these four have any triple-A experience. It’s unlikely all four will pan out given the attrition rate of prospects away from the majors, but the Dodgers hope to give each of them a long-term shot.
The balance may shift towards trade markets. Steven Kwan, Lars Nootbar (recovering from heel surgery), Brendan Donovan and Villier Abreu Is one of those outfield players who might be capable. The Dodgers were tied with Kwan and Donovan at last summer’s deadline. They certainly have the farm system to make strong offers for controllable outfielders. For example, the charger could become a trade chip if the Dodgers don’t think he’s above average in left field.
The Dodgers are also clearly in a position to compete for any free agent. However, they typically prefer to make a short-term commitment at a high annual rate rather than offering a decade-long deal. They broke this precedent Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamotobut both are special cases. Otani is the best chess player in the world, and Yamamoto is a 25-year-old ace player. Tucker is a good player, but not a unique free agent. If Tucker ends up going this route, the Dodgers may be more willing to settle for a big-money AAV deal of five or six years, but it stands to reason that his camp will try to make good on a ten-year-plus commitment early in the offseason.
