The Los Angeles Dodgers have decisions to make this winter that no other team has the privilege of having to make.
Coming off a World Series title, the Dodgers are returning a cavalry of superstar pitchers to their rotation in 2025. Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow will be joined by new acquisition Blake Snell, leaving two slots left in their purported six-man rotation.
Will either of the two free-agent starters from the Dodgers' World Series rotation fill one of those slots?
Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler are two of the top names left on the free-agent big board, and LA would face stiff competition in a bid for a reunion with either one. Flaherty, who is a Southern California native, had the better year of the two by far.
On Friday, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report predicted that Flaherty would fall outside the Dodgers' remaining budget for this offseason. Instead, he forecasted a move to nearby Anaheim to play for the Los Angeles Angels on a three-year, $72 million contract.
"This feels like a great spot for the Angels to make one more splash," Miller said. "Flaherty was born and raised in Los Angeles, but the Dodgers are probably out of the $20M+ pitcher market now."
"And the moves the Halos have made already this offseason show a desperation to not sputter through another lost year. Adding Flaherty to the mix alongside Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks, Tyler Anderson and José Soriano at least makes them interesting in the AL West race."
In the regular season, Flaherty posted a 3.17 ERA across 162 innings pitched, striking out an impressive 194 batters. His playoff stats didn't look great, with a 7.36 ERA across five starts, but he pitched two brilliant games, one in the NLCS, and one in the World Series.
Okay, so maybe jumping to the Angels doesn't constitute playing "in LA," as any local would probably tell you. But it would give Flaherty the opportunity to stay close to home and head up a pitching staff that hopes to take a significant jump after a dismal 2024 season.
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