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The Los Angeles Dodgers need pitching badly.
Julio Urias’ fate is a mystery after his domestic violence infraction and Clayton Kershaw is a free agent.
At least Walker Buehler is expected back in 2024 and Emmet Sheehan started to show signs of life in September.
However, the team knows that they need to bring at least a couple of top arms and some depth, too.
Even though he is not expected to pitch next season because of an elbow injury, former Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani is available, and the Dodgers are very much interested.
Recent reports also suggest that LA is interested in another Japanese pitcher: Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Imagine Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the same team? 👀 pic.twitter.com/WGnCgM4dhQ
— MLB (@MLB) November 22, 2023
There have been reports, by MLB insider Jon Heyman, about the Dodgers pairing the two, which would be a dream scenario for them.
Ohtani had a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings as a pitcher this year, plus 44 homers and a 1.066 OPS as a hitter.
Those numbers are unique in MLB history and earned him his second MVP award.
Yamamoto posted a 1.48 ERA for the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league in 2023.
He pitched 164 innings and struck out 169 batters, completely dominating the opposition.
Will the Dodgers flex their financial muscle and invest the $650 – $750 million required to sign both stars?
They will have plenty of competition on both fronts: that’s why they are expected to command such a high salary.
Yamamoto is expected to comfortably surpass $150 million, while Ohtani could sign for more than $500 million.
If the Dodgers land both, they would be extremely hard to beat, both in the regular season and in the playoffs.
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