Survey Says: Dodgers Fans Approve of Roster, Even With Last-Minute Switch
The Dodgers made a fairly substantial change to their position player group last week, naming Mookie Betts their projected shortstop and moving Gavin Lux to second base. The move was abrupt.
General manager Brandon Gomes acknowledged the timing of their decision was motivated by the urgency of a regular season that will begin earlier than usual. The Dodgers and San Diego Padres play each other in Seoul, South Korea March 20-21.
For all the controversy surrounding the decision, Dodgers fans aren’t questioning the position-player group the front office has assembled — for the most part. Satisfaction with every area of the team runs deep, in fact. In our latest round of Twitter/X surveys, fans voiced their overwhelming approval of the team as it stands with 10 days remaining before the games count:
Front office
If Dodger fans aren’t happy with their front office’s $1.2+ billion spending spree, perhaps rooting for a baseball team is not in the best interests of their mental health. Not a single “no” voter stepped up to explain their thinking, but here’s some possible insight from a “yes, but” vote:
Position Players
Filling out your first three lineup spots with three former Most Valuable Players — Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman — washes over a lot of sins. Few question whether or not the Dodgers will hit in 2024. The fly in the ointment isn’t hard to identify:
Starting pitching
Polls were conducted before today’s news that Tyler Glasnow would start on Opening Day, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Emmet Sheehan will start the season on the injured list, too, potentially putting a damper in fans’ enthusiasm.
But for the most part, the starting rotation has been a known quantity, even with outstanding questions around the exact pitching order — and when stalwarts Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw will be ready to return from the injured list. Some fans are more concerned by that uncertainty than others:
Bullpen
Here too, the Dodgers haven’t said much about what the season-opening bullpen will look like. Daniel Hudson will have a place in the pecking order eventually, even if he starts the season on the injured list. As the lone lefties, Alex Vesia and Ryan Yarbrough will be in there somewhere. So will Evan Phillips, Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier and — if they’re healthy — Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen.
The vast majority of fans agree that’s a pretty strong group of eight. But there are naysayers:
Our next polls will be the last before the regular season begins. Soon enough the polls will count too, so get all your miscast votes out of the way now.
Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
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