*** OFFICIAL *** MLB 2020 Thread

[Dan Druff]

Dodgers claim that they are "serious" about signing Rendon. Justin Turner has already agreed to move to 1B if this occurs. This would move Muncy to 2B, which would be a bit of a defensive liability, but he's not as bad at the position as you might picture. He actually saw 70 games at 2B in 2019, which ended up being his most played position.

Turner will also be 35, and his very strong defense at 3B is starting to slip. So a position move wouldn't be a bad idea anyway.

Dodgers have NOT expressed interest in Gerrit Cole yet, which is weird. They need him more than they do Rendon. The Nationals showed this year how much a strong starting rotation can still win championships.

Dodgers offense will be fine without Rendon. In fact, it will still be damn good. Yes, Rendon would make the team even more powerful, but the same pitching liability we saw in 2019 would exist in 2020.

What they really need is a top-flight starter and a new lockdown closer.

Speaking of starters, it has been announced that Julio Urias will start in 2020. He had a weird role in 2019 which wasn't well defined, often oddly appearing in mop-up multi-inning spots. Very wasteful use of a guy who struck out more than a batter per inning, and had 2.49/1.049 ERA/WHIP numbers.

re: Dodgers -- when it comes to free agents, the current Dodger mgmt are bargain bin pickers; all the talk of Dodger big name signings is just fluffer spin put out by player agents to bid up the price

This year might be different. The fanbase is legit pissed. There was all this talk about 2019 finally being the big year, and then they get bounced the first round as a result of a series of dumb managerial decisions in late Game 5.

It probably stings a bit less now that the lowly wildcard team beating them went on to sweep the NLCS and win the World Series via 4 road victories, but still.

The last two years, it was, "Well, we made the World Series, so we just need minor tweaks to win it all."

This year they can't say that.

I'd rather they go after Cole than Rendon, though. The need they have is playoff caliber pitching at this point. Their offense is fine. Trot out the same lineup in 2020, and they will still put up great offensive numbers. The real concerns are the bullpen and the lack of a top-flight started beyond Walker Buehler.