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The Los Angeles Dodgers announced they have signed veteran pitcher Joe Blanton to a one-year contract. According to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan, the one-year deal is worth $4 million. 

Blanton appeared in 36 games for the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates last year, posting a 2.84 earned run average in 76 innings.    

MLB.com’s Mike Petriello assumes some Dodgers fans will rush to judgment about Blanton based on his previous stint with the team and his disastrous season with the Los Angeles Angels:

The bulk of the 35-year-old’s career has been spent in a starting role, but an exceptionally poor 2013 and a yearlong layoff from MLB in 2014 necessitated a move to the bullpen.

Blanton had a nondescript start to the 2015 season with the Royals and then excelled with the Pirates. According to Baseball-Reference.com, he finished with a 1.57 ERA and 2.11 FIP in Pittsburgh, and his 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings were a career high.

FanGraphs’ Neil Weinberg wrote Blanton’s resurgence was all the more surprising given the fact his transition to being a reliever didn’t result in a significant uptick in his fastball velocity, which in part explains Wade Davis’ and Glen Perkins’ success in the bullpen.

Rosenthal noted Blanton’s contract with the Dodgers indicates he’ll remain a reliever in Los Angeles:

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times believes Blanton fills a major hole in the Dodgers’ pitching staff:

If Blanton can repeat last year’s success with the Pirates in 2016, this will be a great deal for the Dodgers. Four million dollars is a reasonable sum of money to pay a better-than-average middle reliever.

And on the days when Los Angeles’ starters are forced to exit earlier than expected, Blanton’s ability to eat up innings in the middle of games will be an invaluable resource.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have opened their hefty pocketbooks by reportedly agreeing to a six-year deal with Cuban right-handed pitcher Yaisel Sierra.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network first reported Tuesday on the agreement between the Dodgers and Sierra. Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com confirmed the deal, adding it will be worth between $30 million and $33 million. 

Sierra’s market began heating up over the weekend, with Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com noting the 25-year-old was “expected to beat” the deal Cincinnati gave to Raisel Iglesias (seven years, $27 million) in June 2014. 

After defecting from Cuba last April, according to Sanchez, Sierra was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball on Dec. 28. He was also not subject to MLB’s international spending rules because of his age and professional experience in Cuba. 

With the Dodgers losing Zack Greinke to free agency as well as uncertainty around oft-injured starters Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-jin Ryu, they badly needed to add rotation depth behind Clayton Kershaw. They did sign left-hander Scott Kazmir to a three-year deal in December to serve as the No. 2 pitcher. 

Sierra’s eventual MLB role is very much uncertain. He threw more than 100 innings only once in five professional seasons in Cuba. In a total of 300 innings during that time, he had 221 strikeouts and 166 walks. His ERA increased in his last three years, ballooning to 6.10 in 2014. 

Brian Sakowski of Perfect Game USA did note Sierra showed a 94-96 mph fastball and a plus slider when he had a three-inning look at him, and he believes that a 2016 MLB debut is possible. 

Whatever Sierra’s role with the Dodgers will be, the front office is still piecing this roster together for 2016. Arizona and San Francisco have improved this winter, while the Dodgers don’t look as imposing on paper due to the loss of Greinke. 

Sierra isn’t going to replace one of the National League‘s three best pitchers from last season, but he gives the Dodgers much-needed upside and depth for next season as they look to keep their National League West crown.

Stats per Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers were never going to replace Zack Greinke. That may as well have been a decree from the baseball gods.

He’s one of the best right-handers in the game, after all, and MLB‘s reigning ERA king. Even with a free-agent market as deep as this one, once Greinke rode off into the Arizona sunset, that was that.

Still, Los Angeles and President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman had to act. And they did, adding a pair of arms in southpaw Scott Kazmir and Japanese import Kenta Maeda, whose deal is expected to be made official in the coming days, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (more on that in a moment).

The question now is, has Friedman done enough to patch that Greinke-sized hole and revamp the rotation for a title run in 2016?

Make no mistake: It’s title or bust at Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers, baseball’s biggest spenders, haven’t hoisted a Commissioner’s Trophy in more than a quarter-century. Yes, they’ve won three straight division titles and advanced as far as the National League Championship Series in 2013. They’ve knocked on the door.

Meanwhile, their hated rivals to the north, the San Francisco Giants, have won three rings in six seasons. And San Francisco is entering an even year (wink, wink) with a bevy of homegrown offensive talent and some shiny new additions to its starting five. Those pesky, Greinke-robbing D-Backs are coiled in the weeds, too.

And other NL contenders, including the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets, are locked and loaded.

So back to Kazmir and Maeda. They join a rotation fronted by Clayton Kershaw, the 2014 NL MVP and still probably the best pitcher in baseball. That’s a rock-solid foundation.

With Maeda and Kazmir in the fold, the Dodgers now have pitching depth. Left-handers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brett Anderson figure to claim the other two rotation slots, with Alex Wood slotting into long relief or possibly being dangled in trade. Righty Mike Bolsinger, who posted a 3.62 ERA in 21 starts last season, is likewise in the mix.

Quantity, however, doesn’t trump quality. Again, the Dodgers are trying to recover from the loss of Greinke and his ludicrously stingy 1.66 ERA and 9.3 WAR, per Baseball-Reference.com.

Can Maeda and Kazmir do it?

First, let’s take the optimistic tack. Kazmir, an All-Star in 2014, continued his compelling comeback story last season with the Oakland A’s and Houston Astros, posting a 3.10 ERA in 183 innings. Not bad for a guy who was floundering in the independent leagues in 2012.

“Back in the day, it was just get it and throw it,” Kazmir, who will turn 32 later this month, told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t know how I did it. I just did it. Now, being able to know my body a lot more and being a lot more knowledgeable about the game, it’s a huge advantage.”

Maeda, too, arrives loaded with experience. In eight seasons with the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the 27-year-old right-hander posted a 2.39 ERA with 1,233 strikeouts in 1,509.2 innings. After watching what Japanese studs like Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka did to MLB hitters when they were healthy, there’s every reason to believe those stats can translate stateside.

OK, now for a dose of pessimism. That “when healthy” caveat referred to the arm troubles that have haunted Tanaka and Darvish, forcing the latter to have Tommy John surgery last spring.

Now, we’re already seeing red flags with Maeda. While Maeda‘s eight-year deal is moving forward, there have been delays “over health concerns,” according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. Remember, L.A. already scrapped a pact this winter with Hisashi Iwakuma over a failed physical.

Maeda, it seems, will don Dodger blue, though his contract is for a low baseline of $25 million and loaded with performance incentives, per the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman. Mostly, questions about his durability won’t go away until he quashes them on the mound.

Kazmir, too, comes with questions. Compelling as his renaissance has been, he faltered down the stretch last season and watched his ERA balloon by a full run between July 30 and Sept. 30. That could have been an anomaly or it could have been fatigue. Or, if you’re feeling especially gloomy, it could have been an ominous harbinger.

The good news for Kazmir is that he’s moving to a pitchers’ yard and to a division that features two other offense-suppressing stadiums in San Diego‘s Petco Park and San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

That should also benefit Maeda, a slender figure with a low-90s fastball who relies largely on command. If you’re thinking that sounds a bit like Greinke‘s scouting report, well, the Dodgers are no doubt thinking (and hoping) along the same lines.

Fox Sports’ C.J. Nitkowski threw a bit of a wet blanket on that comparison with his analysis of Maeda.

“Dodgers fans should temper their expectations,” Nitkowski wrote, “they are not getting the next Darvish or Tanaka. However, Maeda should be a very serviceable starter who gives new manager Dave Roberts the right-handed arm he badly needed in his rotation.”

“Serviceable” isn’t a word that gets pulses pounding or World Series dreams churning. But with Kershaw on hand and Kazmir slotting in as a passable No. 2, the Dodgers don’t need Maeda to light the league on fire.

Still, it feels like there’s a missing ingredient here, something that would push L.A.’s starting five to the next echelon. That ingredient might be Ryu.

The 28-year South Korean was excellent in his first two seasons with the Dodgers, posting a 3.17 ERA in 344 innings between 2013 and 2014. But he sat out the entire 2015 campaign after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

On Dec. 18, Ryu said he expected to be ready by Opening Day, per MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick. 

“Other than throwing off a mound and going all out, I pretty much can do everything I want to do,” Ryu said, per Gurnick. “I’m on a great program and everything is going great. No discomfort, absolutely nothing.”

If there are no setbacks and Ryu returns to his 2013-14 form, suddenly L.A.’s starting five becomes more formidable. Whereas in the past there was a steep drop-off after the two-headed monster of Kershaw and Greinke, this group has the potential to be consistently deep and dangerous.

The Dodgers didn’t re-up Greinke. They didn’t (and almost certainly won’t) trade for Jose Fernandez or Carlos Carrasco. Nor did they nab David Price, despite his connections to Friedman from their days in Tampa Bay. 

But if Maeda stays healthy, Ryu gets healthy, Kazmir puts his late-season slide in the rear view and Anderson and/or Wood do credible fifth-starter things, this could be an area of strength for L.A.

Enough to win a long-awaited title and make Dodgers fans say “Zack who?” That’s up to the baseball gods.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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After losing Zack Greinke via free agency, the Los Angeles Dodgers made a move to bolster their pitching staff, as they reportedly agreed to a deal with Japanese starting pitcher Kenta Maeda. 

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports first reported the signing, and ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden and Mark Saxon confirmed the deal Saturday. 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the deal is for eight years and worth $25 million with lots of performance incentives. 

It’s been a busy week for L.A., which also agreed to a three-year deal with lefty Scott Kazmir on Wednesday. Kazmir and Maeda will bolster a talented rotation led by Clayton Kershaw. 

Maeda’s path to Major League Baseball has been complicated, as is often the case with Japanese players under contract to a team. Joey Nowak of MLB.com reported on Dec. 9 he was going to be posted by the Hiroshima Carp. 

After Maeda was posted, Baseball America‘s Ben Badler tweeted his expectation was that the Carp were going to be seeking the maximum $20 million posting fee to release him. That likely changed Maeda’s market, as Tom Singer of MLB.com pointed out at least one team (Arizona) had interest before learning of the Carp’s demands. 

Maeda is an unusual starting pitcher to project in MLB because he’s short at 6’0″ and rail-thin at 154 pounds. If you are curious as to why Maeda’s weight is such a big talking point, let Phil Rogers of MLB.com explain it with a few examples. 

“Here’s a list of guys 166 pounds or less who pitched in the majors last season: Shane Robinson, Sam Freeman, Raudel Lazo, Everett Teaford, Zach Davies, Jesse Chavez and Severino Gonzalez,” Rogers wrote. 

Injuries and durability haven’t been a concern for Maeda in Japan, as he’s racked up 1,509.2 innings since 2008. But leagues in that country also use a six-man rotation. 

The stuff Maeda brings isn’t bad, though it’s not dazzling like that of recent Japanese pitchers Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka, as Badler wrote (via Mike Axisa of CBS Sports): 

Maeda is a slightly-built 6 feet, 160 pounds and throws around 87-93 mph with good sink and run, though he doesn’t get great angle on his fastball. He’s a good athlete, which helps him repeat his delivery and thrive when his command, which can be plus at times, is on point. Maeda doesn’t have one knockout secondary pitch, but he has a solid-average slider and mixes in a curveball and a changeup as well.

Badler also spoke to an international scouting director who views Maeda as a “fourth starter at the big league level” because his game is built more on command and needing to hit spots than a power arsenal. 

Despite all of these concerns, the 27-year-old now has the opportunity to work with an MLB coaching staff and can add bulk to his frame that could help him add velocity to his arsenal. 

Investing in pitchers is always risky, but Maeda is one worth investing in. His upside is greater than any starter who was left on the market.

Stats and weight per Baseball-Reference.com.

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Scott Kazmir is nice. Quite fine, even.

But Scott Kazmir is not enough to fix what is becoming a more uninspiring offseason by the day for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers, three-time defending National League West champions, agreed to a three-year, $48 million contract with the left-handed Kazmir, according to Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi:

Scott Kazmir’s deal with #Dodgers is 3 years and $48 million, with an opt-out after the first year, sources confirm. @FOXSports

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 30, 2015

On its own, the deal is solid, as the soon-to-be 32-year-old owns a respectable 3.33 ERA over the last two seasons.

But in the vacuum that is the Dodgers’ offseason, one that has seen them let Zack Greinke walk to a rival and Aroldis Chapman’s domestic issues sully a blockbuster trade and Hisashi Iwakuma’s balky medicals nix their agreement, this deal for Kazmir is not enough to say the Dodgers are the favorites in the remade and highly competitive NL West.

The opt-out after one year shows that Kazmir would like to re-establish his value with a good 2016 and that the Dodgers just need a stopgap starter before their young minor league pitchers mature enough to take on full-time roles in their rotation.

“In Scott’s case, he and his representation are aware that next year’s free-agent starting pitching market will probably be a pretty good seller’s market,” Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi told reporters. “From our standpoint, we have a lot of good young pitching that we feel is going to be ready to contribute at some point in 2016 and certainly by 2017.”

The problem is Kazmir, if he is not a front-line arm the way he was for the Oakland A’s during the first half of last season, is not the kind of piece that gives the Dodgers a major boost. In fact, if he pitches like he did down the stretch for the Houston Astros, he is a liability.

As of now, the Dodgers are not a bad club, despite what knee-jerk analysts, misinformed fans and radio talking heads might have you believe.

This team was among the best offensive clubs in baseball last season, and that was with Yasiel Puig out or playing hurt for the majority of 2015. And the offense stands to improve next season if All-Star center fielder Joc Pederson can become more disciplined as a power threat and rookie shortstop Corey Seager produces more than Jimmy Rollins did last season, which shouldn’t be difficult.

Then there is Puig, a player who the misguided believe should be on the scrap heap for offenses no more serious than him being a youthful headache. But he won’t even make $20 million in base salary over the next three years, and when he’s been healthy, he has been among the best. That last part is undeniable.

Oh, and there is Clayton Kershaw, the best thrower of a baseball on the planet. Also undeniable. Plus a dominant closer in Kenley Jansen, even if the rest of the bullpen is seriously suspect.

So people should be inclined to stop bashing the Dodgers as an afterthought within their own division. They might not be the favorite before the new year rings in, but they do not stink to the high heavens.

Kazmir affirms that. He could end up as a quality lefty, one battle-tested in the more difficult American League last season.

In fact, why Kazmir wasn’t more coveted in a market thirsty for pitching is a bit of a mystery. He is aged and he did have a rugged end to 2015, pitching to a gruesome 5.89 ERA over his final nine starts for the Astros (he had a 2.12 ERA over his first 22 starts between the A’s and Astros). But he’s healthy and capable, and he can help the Dodgers if he pitches as he did before his late-season collapse.

However, the Dodgers needed more than help this offseason. They needed significant impact considering they lost Greinke, arguably the best pitcher in the majors last season. And ideally, they needed a right-handed starting pitcher since, with Kazmir, the rotation might be entirely left-handed come Opening Day, though the Dodgers front office does not see that as a major negative.

“That’s something we’ve discussed over the course of the offseason,” Zaidi told reporters of the all-lefty rotation. “It sets you up for a situation where having some balance in the bullpen makes some sense, because you’re going to see a certain type of lineup day-in, day-out when you have an extreme rotation one way or another.”

Chapman would have provided that impact and excitement. Johnny Cueto or Andrew Miller would have, too. A deal for Jose Fernandez was always a pipe dream, but Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar had potential.

Instead, the Dodgers are driving a fall and winter that to this point have done little other than disappoint onlookers, and possibly themselves, as Chapman and Iwakuma appeared to be in the bag. The consolation prize is Kazmir and a bunch of little-to-nothing signings and trades, although their prospect package in the Todd Frazier trade was applauded and they could still win the bidding war for Kenta Maeda.

That does not mean the Dodgers should be written off as also-rans. They have a quality roster, one that most other GMs in the game would swap for their own right now. But this franchise is not in the business of simply being better than most.

It exists to win World Series titles. Kazmir could end up contributing to that, but as of right now, he is the Dodgers’ major acquisition and does not make them a pennant favorite in what is still a lackluster offseason.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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First, let’s get this out of the way: Jose Fernandez won’t come cheap, if he comes at all.

The Miami Marlins are under no obligation to trade the 23-year-old budding ace. And if they do, they’ll demand a king’s ransom.

Yet the rumors won’t go away. Fernandez has been linked to multiple potential suitors this winter, but none more than the Los Angeles Dodgers, who need a front-line starter after Zack Greinke rode off into the desert for a massive payday with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

There are roadblocks and reasons for skepticism, to be sure. But Los Angeles is one of the few clubs that could theoretically net Fernandez without completely crippling its farm system, as we’ll examine shortly.

First, a look at where things stand. The Dodgers “are staying in touch with the Marlins” about Fernandez, Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported Dec. 21. At the same time, Rosenthal added, “it remains difficult to imagine the teams matching up on a trade unless Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria decides he wants Fernandez gone.”

Fernandez’s bumpy relationship with Miami’s front office and his teammates is just one part of a toxic circus in South Beach, as Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller recently detailed. 

When asked if he’d like to remain a Marlin, Fernandez said he’s “not allowed to comment,” per Walter Villa of the Miami Herald. Which sounds an awful lot like thinly veiled code for, “Heck no,” or perhaps something less printable.

Again, though, Miami doesn’t have to deal him. He’s under club control for the next three years. And while his 2014 Tommy John surgery and last season’s biceps strain raise injury red flags, the 336 strikeouts and 2.40 ERA he’s tallied in 289 big league innings make him one of the most tantalizing talents in baseball.

Just the thought of him slotted next to Clayton Kershaw at the top of the rotation should leave L.A. fans drooling onto their Dodger Dogs.

So what would Los Angeles have to give up to land him? Let’s start with the haul the D-Backs surrendered to get Shelby Miller from the Atlanta Braves and go from there.

For Miller—who’s two years older than Fernandez and has a significantly lower ceiling—Arizona sacrificed shortstop and No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson, center fielder Ender Inciarte and pitching prospect Aaron Blair. The Marlins, no doubt, would demand similar pieces and more for Fernandez.

In fact, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reported, before the Miller trade, the Marlins and Diamondbacks were discussing a deal that would have featured Swanson, Inciarte and Blair, plus pitcher Patrick Corbin and infielder Brandon Drury. That’s a top prospect, a secondary prospect and multiple big league-ready players.

Whew.

Could the Dodgers make that happen without hopelessly mortgaging the future? Depending on whether the Marlins are willing to play ball, the answer is a definite maybe. 

Let’s start with the prospects. Infielder Corey Seager, who impressed in his MLB debut last year, should be off-limits. But Julio Urias—L.A.’s No. 2 prospect and the top left-handed pitching prospect in the game, according to MLB.com—could be an enticing centerpiece. 

Urias, still just 19 years old, rose as high as Triple-A last season. Overall, he owns a 2.91 ERA and an impressive 264 strikeouts in 222.1 minor league frames.

Losing him would hurt, no question, but the Dodgers would be replacing him with a more fully developed ace. And L.A. has five more pitchers—right-handers Jose De Leon, Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes, Walker Buehler and Chris Anderson—among its top 10 prospects.

As for secondary pieces, the Dodgers could toss in speedy Micah Johnson—the fifth-best second base prospect in baseball, per MLB.com—whom they acquired in the three-team swap that sent Todd Frazier from the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox. 

And perhaps Miami would be interested in reacquiring catcher Austin Barnes, who was shipped to Los Angeles in the Dee Gordon trade last December. Barnes, the Dodgers’ No. 13 prospect, posted an .869 OPS in Triple-A and got a cup of coffee in the big leagues.

According to ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon, losing Barnes in the Gordon trade “stung most” for the Fish. Could a potential reunion sweeten the pot now?

OK, so that’s one superlative prospect, one good one and another solid chip that we know Miami likes. We’re getting warm, but we’re not there yet.

Remember, the D-Backs supposedly dangled Inciarte for Fernandez and ultimately sent him to Atlanta. The Dodgers, too, have a promising young outfielder by the name of Joc Pederson.

Yes, Pederson’s production tailed off significantly in the second half, and he finished with an anemic .210 average. But he teased huge power, blasting 26 dingers and putting on a jaw-dropping display at the Home Run Derby.

He’s also got plus speed and excellent defensive tools. And, like Fernandez, he’s just 23, meaning there’s room for growth. Just the spectacle of him and Giancarlo Stanton taking batting practice together should put butts in the seats at Marlins Park.

If the Dodgers were to move Pederson—and, to be clear, there’s no indication he’s on the block—they’d need to plug a hole in the outfield, possibly by signing a free agent in the Dexter Fowler or Denard Span mold.

A package of Pederson, Urias, Johnson, Barnes and maybe one more prospect from the bottom of L.A.’s top 20 if the Marlins demand quantity might feel like too much to jettison. And it is a lot. But the Dodgers would still be left with eight of their top 10 prospects and would retain Seager, their brightest rising star.

At the same time, that still might not be enough for Loria and Miami, who could hold out for Seager as well. If that’s the case, the Dodgers should move on, assuming they haven’t already. 

Los Angeles reportedly met with Japanese ace Kenta Maeda in Southern California on Christmas Eve. And even with Greinke, David Price and Johnny Cueto off the board, there are high-upside free-agent options, including left-handers Scott Kazmir and Wei-Yin Chen.

None of those names, though, matches the potential impact of Fernandez. Maybe the Marlins truly aren’t selling for anything less than a blow-up-the-farm overpay. But the Dodgers should keep asking, and they should offer the gaudiest deal they can without going over the cliff.

Jose Fernandez won’t come cheap. If he comes, however, he’ll be a game-changer worth paying for—within some semblance of reason.

All statistics and contract information courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. 

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Try as they might, the Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t made much noise this winter. They’ve committed only blunders instead, making for a rough finish to Major League Baseball’s 2015 season.

Clearly, this means the only thing for them to do now is get off to a good start in 2016.

The new year will be here in just a few days, folks. That will only mean following up on New Year’s resolutions—alas, the gym awaits—for most of us. But for the Dodgers, it will mean finding ways to turn their 2016 roster into a powerhouse befitting of baseball’s richest team.

Again, it’s not like the Dodgers haven’t tried to do that already. It’s also not like their offseason has been a total wash. They found a promising new manager in Dave Roberts and secured some talent for him. They’ve retained Brett Anderson and Chase Utley, and they arguably upgraded their prospect depth in a recent three-team trade. Their offseason could be going worse.

But, yeah, it could also be going a lot better.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports told us very early on that ace pitchers Zack Greinke and David Price were the Dodgers’ top two targets, and they missed out on both. They couldn’t land either Jeff Samardzija or Johnny Cueto as plan-B options.

Elsewhere, they thought they had landed Hisashi Iwakuma, only to watch him return to the Seattle Mariners when the Dodgers took issue with his physical. They also thought they had a deal for Aroldis Chapman, but that was scuttled by an alleged domestic violence incident.

There is a bright side, though. The Dodgers have been doing a lot of swinging and missing, but they should not be mistaken for a doomed team.

“I understand people wanting as much good, positive, big news as early as they can get it,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten told Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. “I totally get that, but I also know that nowadays all of us tend to overreact to everything, both good and bad. If you’re feeling down right now about the Dodgers, I think it’s unwarranted as well as way premature.

Kasten is not wrong. According to FanGraphs, only the Chicago Cubs are projected to produce more wins above replacement than the Dodgers in 2016. Looking at that is when you recall they’re still built around Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen and a host of additional impact talents.

The catch is that though the Dodgers look good on paper, they also look incomplete. The club’s maneuvering this winter suggests that they agree, particularly where starting pitching and bullpen depth are concerned.

So, let’s take it as a given that those are the things the Dodgers need to find after January 1 and dive into how they could go about finding them.

If one thing bodes well for the rest of the Dodgers’ offseason, it’s that they’re not lacking in resources.

Though they’re not going to be spending $300 million again like they did in 2015, they can surely spend more than the $215.1 million in guaranteed salaries and projected arbitration payouts (per MLB Trade Rumors) that they already have committed to 2016. The Dodgers also have the goods to make trades, most notably a deep farm system that contains five players in MLB.com’s top 100.

What bodes less well is that the avenues for the Dodgers to put these resources to use are now limited, particularly where their need for a top-of-the-rotation starter is concerned. With Price, Greinke, Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann all spoken for, the open market is fresh out of those.

That leaves the trade market, where the Dodgers do have options.

Before you ask, Jose Fernandez isn’t one of them. The Miami Marlins have never seemed committed to trading him, and MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro’s “read” is that the Marlins don’t see the Dodgers as a fit for the young ace.

Sonny Gray is another option that should be disregarded. With still a year to go until arbitration, there’s no pressure on the Oakland A’s to deal him. Then there’s Chris Archer, but Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports that the Tampa Bay Rays consider him “pretty close” to untouchable.

Two possibilities that are within reach for the Dodgers, however, appear in this report from Jon Morosi of Fox Sports:

Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar are both prized options. The Cleveland Indians right-handers are short of 30 and controllable through 2020. They both boast power stuff that made them easily above-average pitchers in 2015.

According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, Cleveland isn’t in a hurry to deal either of them. They’re part of the club’s primary strength, after all, and their status as would-be contenders takes both pitchers off the table unless a team has established or MLB-ready talent to offer.

That’s where the Dodgers stand a chance. Cleveland is particularly needy of outfield depth. This allows for the possibility of the Dodgers building a package around some combination of the newly acquired Trayce Thompson, Alex Guerrero, Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier. If Yasiel Puig is cleared of a suspension stemming from his own alleged domestic violence incident, he could also be in play.

To be sure, the Dodgers would probably prefer to swap prospects for an impact pitcher. But if Fernandez, Gray and Archer were taken off the table, the list of targets that could be had for prospects is short. Maybe Tyson Ross could be considered, but the Dodgers probably aren’t interested in sending young talent to a division rival.

In so many words, if the Dodgers want a top-of-the-rotation starter, it’s probably going to require paying the price for Carrasco or Salazar.

If the Dodgers can do that, they’ll knock their list of needs down to rotation and bullpen depth. That’s where we can entertain the idea of them killing two birds with one stone.

As Morosi noted, the Dodgers are also eyeing Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi. Elsewhere on the Rays—otherwise known as the team that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman used to run—Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was right to speculate that the Dodgers could be interested in hard-throwing left-hander Jake McGee. He’s not Chapman, but he’s a pretty good substitute.

As for what the Dodgers could trade for an Odorizzi/McGee package, we could take the package that Dave Cameron of FanGraphs proposed for an Archer/McGee haul and downgrade it a tad. Rather than the seemingly untouchable Corey Seager, the Dodgers could base the trade around Julio Urias, Jose De Leon or maybe even Grant Holmes.

Of course, the Dodgers don’t need to kill two birds with one stone in a trade with the Rays quite like they need to point their search for a top-of-the-rotation starter toward Cleveland. In separate moves, they could turn to the open market for a starter and to the trade market for a reliever.

The open market may be out of aces, but it does have some solid mid-rotation options. According to Rosenthal, three players on the Dodgers’ radar are left-handers Scott Kazmir and Wei-Yin Chen and Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda. Ask Morosi, and he’ll say Maeda makes the most sense:

The consensus on Maeda appears to be that he won’t be an ace-level pitcher in the majors. But at just 27 years old and with a 2.39 career earned run average in Nippon Professional Baseball, you can see his appeal.

Mind you, Kazmir and Chen would also make sense. Kazmir has a connection to Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi, and he has been largely good in posting a 3.33 ERA over the last two seasons. Chen is two years younger than Kazmir, and his extreme, strike-throwing style has led to a 3.54 ERA over the last two seasons.

If the Dodgers can sign any of these three, their rotation would be in much better shape. They would also have just their bullpen left to figure out, and that’s where they would have a few trade options.

If they can’t get either in a package deal, the Dodgers could deal for McGee or fellow Rays reliever Brad Boxberger individually. They could also look elsewhere in the American League East and swap out some pitching depth for New York Yankees left-hander Andrew Miller. Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Mark Melancon is another option. There’s also Shawn Tolleson of the Texas Rangers. 

Regardless of the direction they go to fill these needs, the Dodgers will indeed be in good shape if they get a top-of-the-rotation starter, an additional starter and an ace reliever after the new year. They’ve had a rough offseason so far, but these remain the only things they really need to add to a roster that’s already elite on paper.

We would wish them luck…But we’re pretty sure their luck can only go up anyway.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Tuesday they’re set to unveil a statue of Jackie Robinson outside Dodger Stadium in 2016. 

According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, California-based sculptor Branly Cadet has been tabbed to create the statue, which will reportedly be nine-to-10 feet tall and based around the concept of “Leveling the Playing Field.”     

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At this point, I’ll believe Jake Odorizzi is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers when he takes the mound at Dodger Stadium. Or maybe not until he throws his first pitch in Dodger blue.

It’s been that kind of offseason for the Dodgers, but as my friend Ken Rosenthal wrote the other day on Fox Sports, there’s plenty of time and plenty of players left out there to turn a terrible winter into a good one. A trade for Odorizzi, who was once compared to Zack Greinke and was later traded for him, wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

Sure enough, soon after the news broke Thursday that the Hisashi Iwakuma free-agent signing could fall apart because of a failed physical, there was this tweet from Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:

Odorizzi is 25, so he’s a fit on a Dodger team that seems at least as interested in building for the future as in winning now. He finished in the top 10 in the American League in ERA in 2015 (3.35), so he’s a definite upgrade in a Dodger rotation that still basically consists of Clayton Kershaw and four question marks.

He spent a month on the disabled list last summer, so he’s a fit there, too.

Sorry, cheap shot. But remember, the Dodgers’ latest stumble was Iwakuma’s failed physical (first reported by Japan’s Jiji Press, h/t Kazuto Yamazaki), which at least for now has scuttled the three-year, $45 million contract he agreed to last week.

Iwakuma was the pitcher the Dodgers signed after Greinke surprised everyone by signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers responded by doing the deal with Iwakuma and agreeing to a trade for Aroldis Chapman—which also didn’t get done, after news broke of a domestic violence allegation.

So they lost their co-ace to a team that no one knew was even bidding, and they responded by making a trade that had to be called off and a free-agent signing that either won’t go through or may need to be reworked.

Meanwhile, their National League West rivals have added Greinke and Shelby Miller (Diamondbacks), and Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija (San Francisco Giants).

Oh, but the Dodgers have got plenty of prospects, which is nice when you’re rebuilding. The Dodgers, with their huge market and huge payroll and huge expectations, aren’t supposed to be rebuilding.

To win in 2016, they’re going to need to deal some of those prospects for some established major league talent.

As my buddy Anthony Witrado wrote here Wednesday, the big move would be to go after an ace like Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins or Sonny Gray of the Oakland A’s. But getting either one of those guys isn’t going to be easy, even with all the prospects the Dodgers have stockpiled. Remember, when the Marlins talked about a Fernandez trade with the Diamondbacks, they demanded a quality major league starter (Patrick Corbin) in addition to a bunch of elite prospects, according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.

Odorizzi won’t come cheap, but it shouldn’t take as much to get him as it would to acquire Fernandez or Gray. Besides, with the Dodgers’ rotation need and their prospect base, maybe they can or should get two of them.

Perhaps they could rework their scuttled deal with Iwakuma, as Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times suggested on Twitter:

A trade for Odorizzi makes even more sense, and not just because Dodgers boss Andrew Friedman was the guy who made the trade that brought Odorizzi to the Tampa Bay Rays in December 2012. That was the deal known then as James Shields for Wil Myers, but better remembered now as Wade Davis for Jake Odorizzi.

Odorizzi still isn’t Greinke (who went to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2010 trade that sent Odorizzi to the Kansas City Royals), but he developed last spring and summer into a very effective major league pitcher. The Rays wouldn’t think about trading him, except that they’re the Rays and don’t have enough money and are talking about trading almost everyone.

He’s definitely available, and because the Rays don’t have real hopes of contending in 2016, they’d no doubt be happy to move him for some of those Dodger prospects.

There’s a deal to be made that makes sense for both sides—maybe even one the Dodgers could actually finish.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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The stockpile is in place. 

The brain trust is comfortable and mapping out how to do its next big thing.

All that is left is for the Los Angeles Dodgers to actually strike the stunning deal.

Since Andrew Friedman (president of baseball operations), Josh Byrnes (vice president of baseball operations) and Farhan Zaidi (general manager) took over the organization’s front office, the Brainiac Bunch has made calculated trades in order to gain and retain high-level prospects, sometimes to the outrage of a fanbase that expects the Dodgers to do anything and everything to land every elite player on the markets.

Alas, the group is hoarding young, controllable and coveted talent in what can only be seen as ammunition for a blockbuster trade either in the immediate or near future.

That trend continued Wednesday when the Dodgers got involved in the trade that sent third baseman Todd Frazier to the Chicago White Sox, who turned over a trio of strong prospects to the Dodgers, who sent a trio of lesser prospects to the Cincinnati Reds, Frazier’s original team.

With the deal—the Dodgers acquired high-velocity right-hander Frankie Montas, second baseman Micah Johnson and outfielder Trayce Thompson—speculation immediately ensued about which ace the Dodgers would target in their attempt to make up ground they’ve lost during this offseason to the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants, clubs that added front-line pitching.

The Marlins have sought volume in their Jose Fernandez trade talks. Few teams in baseball have as much prospect volume now as the Dodgers.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 16, 2015

The speculation about #Dodgers going after Jose Fernandez is natural and legitimate. Tons of young players; #Marlins can pick and choose.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 16, 2015

“I tip my cap to those teams. They both had very strong offseasons,” Zaidi told MLB Network Radio on Wednesday evening. “The bar has definitely been raised in our division, and we’re going to have to make sure that we’re not just keeping up, but continuing to play at the top of the division.” 

Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez is the obvious connection right now. He was rumored to be on the trade market earlier in the offseason, and the Dodgers, winners of three consecutive National League West titles, showed their interest during the winter meetings earlier this month, though they were turned off by the Marlins’ asking price. 

But Fernandez is not the only top-end starter the Dodgers could seek out.

Everyone talking about possible Jose Fernandez deal for #Dodgers but Sonny Gray just as intriguing given #A‘s history. Proven in October.

— Lyle Spencer (@LyleMSpencer) December 17, 2015

Oakland A’s ace Sonny Gray could be the piece the Dodgers want. Or it could be Tampa Bay Rays ace Chris Archer. Or even White Sox stud Chris Sale, though that one is least likely right now considering Chicago is in win-now mode after deals for Brett Lawrie and Frazier. 

What is happening with the Dodgers’ farm systems makes it clear another move could be coming, and the front office knows it cannot hide its intentions any longer.

Friedman acknowledged as much during an interview with the team’s flagship station, KLAC 570 AM. He said (via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) Wednesday’s trade “also improves our trade capital to match up with other teams.”

He couched that by telling Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times that while other clubs are interested in the players he acquired from the White Sox, it does not necessarily mean a trade is imminent.

However, when Shaikin asked if he would be more comfortable trading elite pitching prospects after Wednesday’s deal than he was a day before, Friedman simply stated, “Yeah.”

The Dodgers have not done much this offseason besides signing right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, and their biggest headlines came when they nixed a trade for elite Reds closer Aroldis Chapman after discovering he was involved in a domestic altercation in October, which Major League Baseball is now investigating and could hand down punishment for depending on the outcome. 

There are obvious hurdles in trading for a front-line starter, though. As Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported, baseball executives have described Fernandez’s asking price as “absurd” and “ridiculous,” so he could be out of play.

As for Gray, Archer and Sale, the price could end up just as high in the now. Figure the stunning price the Diamondbacks paid to get Shelby Miller, then figure that all three of the aforementioned aces are better than Miller and each has more team control than Miller’s three years.

That means any current conversation had about Gray, Archer or Sale starts at a better package than the Atlanta Braves received for Miller and somewhere close to what the Marlins are asking for Fernandez, who also has three more years until free agency and is still on an innings restriction after Tommy John surgery.

It is possible the prices change for those pitchers by the time next July 31 rolls around or by this time next year. It is also possible the Dodgers prospects continue to blossom and their stock rises to the point the team does not have to give up as many in a return package.

Either way, whether it is in the next six weeks or in the next six or 12 months, the Dodgers are now prepared to part with some of their elite stockpile to land an ace. And when they do, they again become one of the scariest teams in all of baseball.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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