By Jackson RobertsShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberThe Los Angeles Dodgers have Major League Baseball's best roster already, but we know that won't stop them from making bold free agency moves.
This season, the Dodgers never settled on a true closer, and wound up using Roki Sasaki, who disappointed as a starter, in the ninth-inning role in the playoffs. Tanner Scott's first season of a four-year, $72 million deal was catastrophic, and now, the Dodgers are mulling whether to spend big on a reliever for a second time.
One baseball writer not only believes that's what the Dodgers will do, but that the reliever they sign will come straight off the roster of their chief rivals in the National League West.
...On Tuesday, The Athletic's Andy McCullough predicted that the Dodgers would sign right-handed fireballer Robert Suarez, who made each of the past two All-Star teams while pitching for the San Diego Padres, then opted out of the final two years of his deal earlier this month.
"Do the Dodgers really want to enter another long-term pact with a reliever after watching Tanner Scott combust in 2025?" McCullough wrote. Of course, (Edwin) Díaz has a much more accomplished resume than Scott. But so does Suarez, and he’ll likely cost less, for fewer years, than Díaz."
Though the last point about Suarez being more affordable than the New York Mets All-Star is likely true, The Athletic's Tim Britton recently projected Suarez for three years and $54 million this winter, so it's hardly a drop in the bucket. Blowing $18 million a year on a closer in back-to-back offseasons is the type of luxury only the Dodgers can afford.
Just because they can afford it, though, doesn't guarantee they will. Nevertheless, Suarez is a name to keep a close eye on as the Dodgers rumors start flying around at the winter meetings.
More MLB: Mariners Predicted To Lose $69M Two-Time All-Star to Nationals
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