Dodgers 40-Man Roster Full After Jason Heyward Signing, What Moves Will Be Next for LA?

The Dodgers officially brought back Jason Heyward on a one-year, $9 million deal on Monday morning. After an impressive 2023 campaign, a reunion with the 34-year-old made sense. Bringing him back does fill the Dodgers’ 40-man roster with still many holes to fill on the team.

What is the 40-Man Roster in MLB?

The 40-man roster, in short, is the list of players who can appear in a major league game at any point in the season. It includes the active 26-man roster, players on the injured list shorter than 60 days, and minor league players the club expects to make an impact during the season.

If the club removes a player from the 40-man roster, that player is usually made available for any other team to acquire. Any free agent signed to a major-league deal must immediately be added to the 40-man roster. All of this makes spots on the 40-man roster very valuable.

Dodgers’ Current 40-Man Roster

As mentioned above, re-signing Heyward filled the 40th spot on the 40-man roster. So, if the Dodgers wanted to sign a certain two-way superstar, they would have to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

At the conclusion of the 2023 season, every member of the 60-day IL had to be added back onto the 40-man roster. This includes players like Dustin May, Walker, Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, and J.P. Feyereisen.

A few days later, the team tendered a contract to everyone in arbitration or who had a club option. Will Smith, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Yarbrough, Caleb Ferguson, Yency Almonte, and Victor Gonzalez make up such players.

Notably, the team did bring back pitcher Ricky Vanasco on a major league deal taking up a spot on the 40-man.

Finally, the Dodgers had to add minor league players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. The front office protected Hunter Feduccia, Nick Frasso, and Landon Knack.

The rest of the 40-man roster consists of players that are under team control. This can be through major league deals like with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, or Max Muncy. The other way is through pre-arbitation, or players with too little service time. This includes players like Michael Grove, Ryan Pepiot, Miguel Vargas, James Outman, and several others.

How Can the Dodgers Make Room on the 40-Man Roster?

If the Dodgers want to sign any more free agents, then they need to make room on the 40-man roster. There are several ways the team can go about this.

First, the Dodgers could transfer players back to the 60-day IL. However, they cannot do this until pitchers and catchers report in February 2024. So in the effort to sign free agents early, this does not prove helpful.

Secondly, the front office could trade from the 40-man roster.

The Dodgers have a top-tier farm system with many players that other teams covet. If dealing from a position of strength, they could trade away one of their many pitchers like Gavin Stone or Michael Grove to bring in someone else.

Likewise, players like Michael Busch, Diego Cartaya, and Andy Pages may not see much playing in the organization. This does not mean they do not deserve playing time. It could just be that their position is blocked by someone on the major league roster – a la Will Smith blocking Diego Cartaya.

Similarly, the club could trade someone away for more prospects. A few years ago the Dodgers traded Matt Beaty to the Padres for River Ryan, clearing a 40-man roster spot.

Finally, they could designate someone for assignment, basically cutting them. The team would prefer not to do this because they do not receive anything in return. However, players with smaller salaries or not much team control are decent candidates for this.

What Does This Mean for the Dodgers?

With rumors circling that Shohei Ohtani wants to sign before the end of the winter meetings, expect the Dodgers to be active in the trade market. If the Dodgers want to land Corbin Burnes or Dylan Cease, they may have to trade someone like Cartaya or Stone.

Additionally, do not expect the team to part ways with any current players. This is a good problem to have, but the Dodgers don’t really have any good candidates to designate for assignment. Either the players are too expensive, or they have a lot of team control left.

The only realistic players the Dodgers could part with are Blake Treinen and Austin Barnes. The club does not owe them very much money and they are only on guaranteed contracts for one year. However, Treinen, when healthy, is a top-tier reliever and Barnes is widely viewed as the captain of the team.

Andrew Friedman and the front office have their work cut out for them. No matter how they decide to clear space on the 40-man roster will be exciting. Even more exciting will be who they clear that space for.

Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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