#dodgers

#dodgers

(Los Angeles Times Staff) It's timmmme! Join Los Angeles Times Dodgers beat reporter Jack Harris and columnists Dylan Hernández and Bill Plaschke for our very special 2025 Dodgers Debate Christmas Special. The trio will discuss the signing of Miguel Rojas and Edwin Díaz, who else might be on the 2026 roster, the World Baseball Classic, whether the Dodgers can three-peat and more.

Episode 20 of Fan Cave Battles may be the best evidence yet that Dodgers Nation never lets us down. This week's episode not only showcases another group of imaginative fan settings, but it also crowns the Fan Cave Champion of the Month. The competition was captivating from beginning to end.

The last notable deal between the two was clearly won by the Astros. The Dodgers acquired reliever Josh Fields for an unheralded outfielder named Yordan Alvarez. Since then, Alvarez has made three All-Star appearances and is one of the better slugging outfielders in the sport. Fields pitched decently in parts of three seasons, though he was clearly nowhere near as impactful as Alvarez.

The Dodgers handed Tanner Scott $72 million last winter. It hasn't worked out. So, on Tuesday, the Dodgers handed Edwin Díaz $69 million. If the Dodgers are going to be Exhibit A for Walter's rival owners to cry about how desperately they need a salary cap, bring it on. If Walter's rival owners demand that players be locked out next winter and not be allowed back until they relent and accept a salary cap, well, bring that on too.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been connected to multiple relief pitchers, but have yet to land one of their targets. That list included Devin Williams, Raisel Iglesias and Ryan Helsley, who all signed new contracts. Edwin Díaz remains in play as the top available option, but the Dodgers are unlikely to meet his demands. Outside of Díaz, Robert Suarez is the best relief pitcher still available in free agency.

Cody Bellinger, a very popular name right now across Major League Baseball. I was told that no fewer than three large-market teams are actively courting Cody Bellinger. Yes, the two New York teams, and then potentially also the Phillies and the Dodgers. So maybe actually four big-market teams are showing interest in Bellinger.

On Dec. 3, 2007, longtime Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley earned the minimum amount of votes necessary for induction and was posthumously elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans committee. The famed owner, who entered the Hall of Fame officially during an induction ceremony in 2008, oversaw the Dodgers organization from 1950 until his death in 1979 at the age of 75.

A 21-year-old left-hander who was ranked as the No. 10 prospect in the Reds' farm system by MLB Pipeline, the former 15th-round draft pick has been a favorite of Dodgers' evaluators for a while, according to another person with knowledge of the team's thinking. A 15th-round selection by the Reds in 2022, Serwinowski rose the ranks to become a well-regarded prospect in their farm system this year.

Andrew Friedman and the Los Angeles Dodgers front office have proven themselves to be resourceful, flexible, shrewd, and highly effective. Friedman leads the charge in aiming to improve the roster year after year. There are many different ways to achieve this goal, and Friedman's group has mastered essentially every single one in some shape or form. This year's group of free agents isn't overly strong whether it be high-end talent or depth.

If there's a correlation between spending the most money and winning a championship, I still think it's a weak correlation. Sample size of data, not very big. But they earned every bit of it. I mean, they struggled with injuries throughout the season. But they got healthy at the right time. The rotation got healthy, and when that rotation is healthy, they're tough to beat.

Dodgers fans will never forget those baseballs hit by Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning and Will Smith in the 11th flying over the left-field wall and into the first row of seats beyond the Blue Jays' bullpen. John and Matthew Bains - sitting side-by-side - will never forget the balls ending up in their hands. John, 61, caught Rojas' 387-foot home run in his glove on the fly. Two innings later, Matthew, seated next to his dad, saw Smith's blast land in the bullpen and bounce directly into his hands.

The Los Angeles Dodgers made a roster move on Tuesday, adding left-handed pitcher Ronan Kopp to the 40-man roster, protecting him from the Rule 5 draft. He had a 3.43 ERA across 49 relief appearances in Double-A and Triple-A last season. In other news, the Dodgers have a few key free agents this offseason, one of them being longtime fan favorite Kiké Hernandez.

The Dodgers should have plenty of financial flexibility to play with in the coming months, with more than $60 million in salary from last season set to come off the books (resulting from Clayton Kershaw's retirement, the expiration of contracts for Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech and others, and the team's decision to designate Tony Gonsolin for assignment last week).

What they bring night-in and night-out, the passion that they show for the Dodgers - now, this is my 11th season and even on the road, the number of Dodger fans that are there and just the love that they have for this team, our job is to pour ourselves back into it and try to give them a team that can compete for championships, and that they can be proud of.

They said we ruined baseball," Johnson said. "Well, I guess we didn't.

That slump had prompted manager Dave Roberts to acknowledge Sunday that moving Pages out of the lineup was "still on the table." During that night's workout, Kiké Hernández also spent a noticeable amount of time fielding fly balls in center. However, the Dodgers decided against the change for now, keeping Hernández in left, Pages in the No. 9 spot playing center, and their only other outfield alternative, Alex Call, on the bench.

The Blue Jays are turning to their only starting pitcher with the World Series experience entering this postseason in 41-year-old Max Scherzer. While the biggest question surrounding the game is, " Will the Blue Jays win tonight?", the second biggest question is arguably, " What does Max Scherzer yell at John Schneider when he goes to take the ball from him tonight? " Tonight will mark Scherzer's second start this postseason.

For those guys to do that, it's incredible. They're trying to win a World Series, but they understand that this is - life is bigger than baseball, and baseball's just a game. For them to do that with the stakes - where we were at with the stakes, hat's off to them, and I want them to know that we appreciate 'em. Regardless of what happens tonight, we appreciate what they did.

It started as it would end, with Freddie Freeman, and then it just kept happening: Dodger after Dodger in extra innings would smoke a potential walk-off home run off of Toronto Blue Jays near-hero Eric Lauer, almost directly to center field, the stadium would roar, and then the ball would die just at the warning track, snagged, inevitably, by Daulton Varsho. It was funny, and then it was funny, and then it was ... funny? And then it was the bottom of the 18th inning.