The Los Angeles Dodgers won 111 games last season, then crashed out of October early. They lost their second $300 million shortstop in two years to free agency. They cut bait on former MVP Cody Bellinger and what likely would've been an $18 million salary in arbitration. They quickly re-upped franchise avatar Clayton Kershaw with the latest in a series of one-year deals.
Then they watched as two of the biggest free agents — shortstops, nonetheless — signed monster deals with the division rival San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.