The Los Angeles Dodgers have to change something if they’re to keep themselves competitive in the upcoming season.
Several stars are on the market this offseason, and one is especially intriguing: Texas Rangers shortstop and former Dodgers All-Star Corey Seager.
“Put it all together and what do you have? The part he wouldn’t say explicitly. The Rangers are going to search for trade partners for Corey Seager and Jacob deGrom. Perhaps Nathan Eovaldi, too,” Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News wrote. “There simply is no other way. You can’t put together a competitive team with $190 million in player salaries with three aging players eating up $92 million of that.”
Despite his availability, though, Seager likely wouldn’t be a good fit with the Dodgers—especially at this point.
Why Wouldn’t a Corey Seager Return Work For the Dodgers?
The first issue that comes to mind with bringing Seager back to the Dodgers is his position, as Mookie Betts has done a solid job since transitioning to shortstop two seasons ago.
The Dodgers could work around that issue by sliding Betts over to second and making Tommy Edman a super utility guy, but Seager would be a significant defensive downgrade from Betts.
Offensively, Seager is coming off of a decent season with the Rangers, hitting 20 home runs for the fifth consecutive season and driving in 51 runs through 102 games.
This year marked the second year in a row he played just 102 games, struggling with injuries throughout both the 2025 and 2026 seasons, and he has only, played more than 150 games once since leaving the Dodgers after the 2021 season.
The Dodgers struggle with injuries just about every year, and adding another injury prone player to their ranks could do more harm than good. He is also set to enter his age-33 season next year, which doesn’t exactly help with the Dodgers’ aging position player core. He’s only halfway through a 10-year, $325 million contract, meaning if the Dodgers acquire him they’ll be paying him $31.5 million through 2031 assuming he stays throughout the duration of his deal.
Due to the size of his deal and his track record, the Rangers could command a high price in a. trade for Seager.
While Seager is a team legend, his return would do far more harm than good.
Was Corey Seager Good With the Dodgers?
Seager spent the first seven seasons of his MLB career with the Dodgers, and broke out for the team in 2016 with a fantastic campaign. He hit 26 homers and drove in 72 runs with a .877 OPS, posting 5.3 bWAR on his way to the NL Rookie of the Year award.
He made his first and second All-Star Games in 2016 and 2017, and earned both NLCS and World Series MVP during the 2020 postseason as the Dodgers broke their title drought.
Through 636 games with the Dodgers, Seager hit 104 homers and drove in 364 runs, posting a solid .870 OPS with the team. Despite his strong results in Los Angeles, though, the Dodgers would do well to avoid a fairytale reunion with the shortstop.
Would you trade to get Corey Seager back?
