The Dodgers offense appears to be set

They have 13 hitters

It’s been an exciting offseason for the Dodgers. They’ve been the most active team all across baseball. LA has made a number of additions and there’s a strong chance they have a couple more up their sleeves.

Despite the Dodgers not being done this offseason, all signs point to them being finished with building their offense, at least that’s what it looks like.

With the addition of Teoscar Hernandez, the Dodgers now have 13 position players that look set on making the Opening Day roster.

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Catchers (2): Will Smith, Austin Barnes

Infielders (5): Freddie Freeman, Gavin Lux, Miguel Rojas, Max Muncy, Mookie Betts

Outfielders (5): James Outman, Teoscar Hernandez, Jason Heyward, Manuel Margot, Chris Taylor

Unicorn (1): Shohei Ohtani

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There you go. There are the 13 position players for the Dodgers, barring something drastic happening. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Margot and Rojas taking up spots on the roster. I think the Dodgers can do better.

Rojas provides fantastic defense, but is one of the worst shortstops in baseball at the plate. He was atrocious at the dish last year, but with the injury to Lux there was no other option for LA. The Dodgers clearly value his glove, hence why they extended him last season before he even played a game. I’d much prefer Rojas’ spot go to Miguel Vargas, a younger player who offers much more upside.

There’s also Margot, who was included in the Tyler Glasnow trade. I wrote about Margot when the Dodgers acquired him, and it’s interesting that he performs very well when he’s NOT at his home park in Tampa Bay. In 2022 he had a 119 wRC+ on the road and in 2023 he had a 111 wRC+ on the road. So, maybe he’s actually pretty decent if you take him away from Tropicana Field.

Despite that, I’d prefer the Dodgers to use that roster spot on someone else. If you take out Margot, the Dodgers have five players capable of playing the outfield already on the roster, I don’t believe you need a sixth. Like I mentioned earlier with Vargas, I’d rather him play left field and you hope he lives up to the hype.

I don’t see a scenario where Rojas or Margot go anywhere, so there is your offense for the 2023 season. Obviously there will be injuries, so Vargas and probably a few spring training invitees will be next in line waiting in the minors.

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