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Frankly, none of these impending departures will be a back-breaker for the Dodgers.
Kershaw is a legend, of course. He’s a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer. But over the past two years, he has been a borderline No. 4/5 starter who might have been pushed out of a job if the Dodgers had ever been anything close to fully healthy. They still have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani and Emmet Sheehan, plus the returns of Gavin Stone and River Ryan. Don’t forget starter-turned-temporary-closer Roki Sasaki, either. Can’t say we’re concerned about the state of this rotation in 2026 sans Kershaw.
Yates and Conforto both had a rough run on one-year deals. Kopech was injured for most of the campaign. And Hernández was the definition of replacement level until October, per usual.
Rojas was the most valuable of the bunch, playing the role of Game 7 World Series legend, but he only played as much as he did because of injuries to Tommy Edman and Max Muncy. And if replacing a 36-year-old utility infielder is the Dodgers’ biggest concern, what a testament that is to their likelihood of getting right back to the World Series again.
Notable Club/Player Options
It’s a near certainty the Dodgers will exercise both of these options. (Though, they could trade away Muncy if they manage to sign a certain third baseman to be mentioned momentarily.)
Vesia was arguably their best reliever during the regular season, and $10M is nothing for Muncy, who remains one of the 25 or so best sluggers in baseball, when he’s healthy.
If declined, both would likely get multiple-year deals with AAVs around 50 percent greater than the team-friendly price points at which the Dodgers can keep them.