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In Major League Baseball, each club has a 26-man roster which is the active roster, and then also a 40-man which is the roster of the available players that could be added to the active roster at any given time.
Being the off-season, the roster that is talked about the most is the 40-man, because there is no need for an “active” roster because there are no games being played. The only time you may hear about the “active” roster, or 26-man, is in reference to having enough players on the 40-man that have Minor League options to be sent down.
Just doing simple math, for the numbers to work, at least 14 players on the 40-man have to have Minor League options, which is why players that have those options are usually always kept and valued. And, it’s also why players like Brent Honeywell, who didn’t have Minor League options, get cut.
Even further than that, no club wants to be stuck with a roster of 26 players with none of them having Minor League options. If that were the case, the club would have no ability to bring guys up and down from AAA when fresh arms are needed, a tactic the Dodgers use a lot.
That is, short of manipulating the injury rules, something the Dodgers also SEEM to do quite a bit as well.
So, that context is being used to help understand what it means that the 40-man roster is now at 40, which means it’s 100% full. Of course, that means that no one can be added, but, yet, we still hear that the Dodgers want to re-sign Clayton Kershaw and Kike Hernandez, and then also sign Roki Sasaki as well.
But, how can they do that if the 40-man roster is full? That’s the topic of today’s article
60-Day ILs Removed
One way the Dodgers will add players to the 40-man roster won’t take place until after Spring Training starts. That’s because that’s when some of the injured players will be added to the 60-day IL and when that happens, their spot on the 40-man roster opens up.
That’s how Kike and Kershaw likely will be added, and Saskai as well. Sasaki will be an International Free Agent signing, so he won’t have to be signed until then, and, assuming there are at least 3 on the 60-day IL that won’t be back in 2025, those are 1 for 1 trades and the problem is solved.
Additions?
But, what if the Dodgers want to make additional acquisitions, like maybe Tanner Scott, or Ha-Seong Kim? How would they be added? For any new acquisition to sign before Spring Training, it would either require a trade, where someone on the 40-man roster would be moved, or a player would have to be Designated for Assignment.
The Dodgers just won the World Series, so it’s very unlikely, and totally out of brand for them to DFA veterans that have been in the system and helped win multiple World Titles. So, the possibility of that happening is there, but not likely.
So, that leaves the avenue of trade. That possibility is the much more likely scenario because it means the Dodgers aren’t just having to cut someone that has had great value to the organization, with basically no return.
Trade Route
If the Dodgers decide to go the trade route, that doesn’t automatically mean they have to trade for the player they want for the “active” 26-man roster. It just means they would have to trade enough players from their 40-man roster to clear the space needed get the guys they want.
For instance, when the Dodgers traded Michael Busch and Yency Almonte, they cleared 2 spots on the 40-man but then got 2 players in return that weren’t added to that same roster.
So, they cleared two 40-man roster spots in that trade that made room for the Free Agents they acquired. This is, in my opinion, the cleanest way to add Tanner Scott, Ha-Seong Kim, or any other Free Agent the Dodgers might want.
So, although the 40-man roster may be full, that doesn’t mean the Dodgers are done adding in the off-season.
Wish List
We all have our own wish list, but rarely do we ever get everything we want. But, heading into the off-season, I think most Dodgers fan’s lists would have included an ace-level starter, a high-end reliever, and a home run-hitting outfielder. Blake Snell fills the bill for the Ace, Blake Treinen definitely is a High-end reliever, and Teo Hernandez certainly is a slugger.
The Dodgers also added a Wild Card in Michael Conforto who was once considered to be one of the best sluggers in the game. Injuries have slowed down that roll, but there is no question that he still has a ton of talent to tap into, so that’s exciting as well. Especially considering the Dodgers signed him to a 1-year deal, so there is almost no risk to it if he doesn’t do well in Dodger Blue.
So, to this point, this off-season has gone just about perfectly, but, the Dodgers likely aren’t done. So, what else would you “want” the Dodgers to add, with the keyword being”WANT” and not “NEED”?
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