The Annual Waiting Game

Well it has arrived, baseball’s annual waiting game. A few dominos have fallen already with a couple of trades, a few free agent signings and some movement of players on minor league deals.

But the big fish, they are still on the market. It was announced today that Imanaga will most likely be posted on Monday. Yamamoto has already been contacted by at least half the league according to MLBTR.

The Dodgers news has mostly been rumors about their talks with the White Sox about Cease, more chatter about a deal with Milwaukee for Burnes, and gauging their interest in Ohtani.

We all know where the team’s biggest needs are. It will take more than just one major move to fill the holes. Pitching, pitching and more pitching. A corner outfielder, and if no Ohtani, a DH or third baseman so Muncy can move into the DH slot.

I can see LA signing at least one of the big free agents. AF almost has to make that kind of deal. The fan base is getting restless, you can tell by the comments on various Dodger blogs, and the Dodger stream on X, formerly Twitter.

The universal outcry is for Ohtani. Seems to me that most fans will not be happy if he is not wearing a Dodger uniform next year. And he is not going to be cheap.

Others call for them to bring back JD Martinez who did a great job for the amount of money he made. First time in Dodger history that four players have exceeded 100 RBI’s in the same season.

Even the Boys of Summer never did that. But it was the pitching that was the Achilles heel. At least health wise. Losing all five of the penciled in starting staff to injury at some point in the season was unprecedented.

Then Julio got into legal hot water. It still amazes me that this team won 100 games. The opposition is looking to load up too. The Giants and D-Backs are said to be interested in several players on the market, and the D-Backs made a trade to get Suarez from the Mariners.

The Padres might be looking to move Juan Soto since they want to cut payroll. And the Yankees seem to be the destination most mentioned by the media.

Cody Bellinger might be coming back into the division if the Giants have anything to say about it. They are said to have a lot of interest in his services.

But the fans of all teams right now are in waiting mode. This usually happens from Thanksgiving until the winter meetings start. So the time for real action is coming soon. Meetings are now just over a week away.