By now, everybody knows that the Los Angeles Dodgers are trying to add to their rotation during the offseason. They proved they can win the World Series without truly top starting pitching, but they do need to bring in some pieces to improve their chances in 2025.
The Dodgers are aiming to add talent to their rotation
Ideally, Shohei Ohtani will return to a two-way role in 2025 and other injured hurlers such as Tony Gonsolin and Tyler Glasnow will also be back as starting pitching options. But the Dodgers likely won’t have Gavin Stone in 2025 and also lost Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty, and Clayton Kershaw to free agency. So unless those last two come back, they will need reinforcements.
Could Los Angeles land Corbin Burnes?
Nobody in the baseball industry should underestimate the Dodgers’ creativity when it comes to negotiating contracts. They showed as much last offseason by adding Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Teoscar Hernandez, Glasnow, and other top players to their payroll. So, when they are rumored to be among the favorites to land ace Corbin Burnes as a free agent, it means they can absorb the financial hit that move would represent.
“The Orioles and Dodgers are the ‘leading candidates’ to land free-agent SP Corbin Burnes, per @jonmorosi,” MLB Deadline News posted on X.
Burnes would give the Dodgers a super-rotation
Imagine the Dodgers rotation with Ohtani, Burnes, Yamamoto, and Glasnow at the top. That foursome would be virtually impossible to deal with over a postseason serious, if they are all healthy of course.
The 2021 NL Cy Young is coming off a 2.92-ERA season in 194.1 frames with Baltimore. The O’s, as Morosi states, remain very much in the mix for Burnes but the Dodgers are also in on the talented right-hander. LA would put together a super-rotation with that hypothetical addition.
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In addition to his obvious talent and production, Burnes would give the Dodgers a reliable workhorse whose main ability is staying healthy: he has pitched at least 165 innings in each of his last four campaigns, and that, for a team like LA, has enormous value.
Burnes obviously won’t be cheap, but the Dodgers have shown that they can make things happen despite their perennially high payroll situation. The O’s are still considered slight favorites because he called Baltimore home in 2024, but Los Angeles seems to be firmly in this race.
