Dodgers 2026 Offseason Guide on Free Agents, Trade Targets, More Roster Shakeups After NLCS Sweep

After winning back-to-back World Series and feeling destined for a three-peat, the Los Angeles Dodgers ran into a Milwaukee Brewers-sized brick wall in the NLCS, swept by the same team they swept one year ago.

Dynasties don't last forever, but is this one now kaput?

Or will the Dodgers be back with a vengeance in 2027?

Ahead, we'll take a look at Los Angeles' most noteworthy free agents and its best options for replacing them—whether internally, via free agency or via trade—before offering up a super early look at what the Dodgers' 26-man roster might look like on Opening Day.

There were 11 players who recorded at least 253 plate appearances for the Dodgers in 2026.

All 11 of those players are signed through at least 2027.

Needless to say, this offense is looking pretty darn good for next season, unless you're overly concerned about Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and Mookie Betts starting to get up there in years.

However, Rojas is a pretty significant impending departure.

The versatile infielder appeared in at least 100 games in each of the past four seasons for the Dodgers, and even delivered that highly improbable home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2025 World Series.

Maybe they re-sign him for an age-38 campaign, but there are other options out there who could be the primary reserve at all four infield positions.

[Editor's Note: Rojas announced his retirement shortly after this was published.]

Replacing Hernández is less of a concern, as the Dodgers already grew accustomed to life without him. Due to injury, he appeared in just two of their first 108 games this season. And now they've got top prospect Josue De Paula ready to factor into the outfield rotation in a potentially big way in 2027.

By leaps and bounds, Skubal is Major League Baseball's most coveted free agent this winter. There's a decent chance he's going to break Yoshinobu Yamamoto's record-setting-for-a-pitcher $325M contract.

And, well, any time you're talking about a record-setting contract, you kind of have to assume the Dodgers are going to be part of that bidding war. For the time being, though, he's a free agent.

Among guys who have been Dodgers for more than three months, though, the biggest loss here would definitely be Vesia.

Over the past three seasons, Vesia has pitched in 207 games with a 2.45 ERA, including a team-high 72 relief appearances this season. He also entered this October with a 1.86 ERA in his 26 career postseason appearances, tallying two wins and four holds just last postseason.

Can they convince him to stick around? Or is Vesia headed for a nice big raise from a team that views him as a potential closer?

Phillips and Treinen both have even more closing experience than Vesia does, but both have been limited by injury over the past two seasons. Same goes for Graterol, who hasn't pitched in the majors since the 2024 World Series.

In Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers have a four-time MVP at DH. They also have former MVPs at first base and shortstop in Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. Both their catcher (Will Smith) and third baseman (Max Muncy) are three-time All-Stars. The outfield trio of Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages has combined for seven All-Star rosters.

And at second base...they have Tommy Edman.

He has been worth more than 20 bWAR in his career, but hasn't been able to stay healthy over the past three seasons. Meanwhile, the in-house backup plans of Alex Freeland and Hyeseong Kim haven't proven themselves worthy of everyday work.

If they're adding anything to this position player group this winter, it almost has to be someone capable of manning second.

We previously mentioned that Alex Vesia is a big loss, if he signs elsewhere in free agency. He led this team with 20 holds, while fellow free agents Evan Phillips and Blake Treinen combined for 14.

In Edwin Díaz and Tanner Scott, they do still have quite the one-two punch at the back end of the bullpen. In an ideal world, Dave Roberts gets to play matchups with both his well-compensated lefty and his well-compensated righty racking up 20 holds and 20 saves.

But reinforcing that bridge from the starting rotation to the tandem of closers with more than 100 career saves is a near-must.

They didn't need Kyle Tucker or Edwin Díaz this past winter. Nor did they need Blake Snell the previous offseason.

However, the Dodgers' biggest signings rarely have anything to do with needs.

So when you hear about their efforts to re-sign Tarik Skubal—or to snag 3B/OF Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato whenever he gets officially posted—just know it's because they can; not because they feel they must.

Early MLB Offseason Predictions on Free Agency and Trades 🔮

When all of the Dodgers' big league regulars are healthy, it's going to be difficult to find regular opportunities for their top prospects who might otherwise be ready for The Show.

In Josue De Paula and Mike Sirota , though, Los Angeles has two of the top outfield prospects in all of baseball.

We got a sneak peek at De Paula in September while Shohei Ohtani was on the IL, and he did not disappoint even a little bit. In 42 trips to the plate, he went 10-for-31 with 11 walks and a home run. And in 124 games played at Double-A Tulsa, the 21-year-old triple-slashed .303/.401/.547 with 27 home runs and 31 stolen bases

Sirota didn't do quite that much slugging, but he sure does have a knack for reaching base. He had a .458 OBP in his 143 games played in college. And his OBP through 167 minor-league games? Also .458. How very Juan Soto-like of him.

The Dodgers also have James Tibbs III waiting in the wings. He hit 30 home runs this season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. But even as a 1B/LF/RF triple threat, he's at the mercy of Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker to create an opening.

And on the pitching front, watch out for RHP Christian Zazueta . He has only made 12 starts at Double-A thus far and is probably still at least a year away. But he has averaged 11.8 K/9 and 6.3 K/BB over the past two seasons and might be on the fast track to the majors.

2B Brandon Lowe OR 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. OR 2B Luis Arraez OR 2B Gleyber Torres

In most years, the pool of second basemen available in free agency is...uninspiring.

After Gleyber Torres accepted his qualifying offer from Detroit last November, the 2B market pretty much became Luis Arraez or bust. And the year before that, Torres off a disappointing walk year and an injured Ha-Seong Kim were the best options out there by far.

But in addition to Torres and Arraez yet again, the Dodgers could fix their second base problem with either Brandon Lowe's 35 home runs or Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s combination of 19 home runs and 41 stolen bases.

We'll see which route they decide to go, but let's just say we're not expecting Alex Freeland to make 80 appearances at second base in 2027.

How do you simultaneously replace Miguel Rojas and Kiké Hernández?

With two-time, soon to be named three-time utility Gold Glover Mauricio Dubón, of course.

After a season in which he started in 149 games for Atlanta, he's surely looking for a similar opportunity to play nearly every day, which wouldn't the case with the Dodgers. But maybe they can talk him into a situation where he starts 15-20 games at every position except for pitcher and catcher.

Whether the fact that they traded for him gives them any sort of leg up in this bidding war remains to be seen, but you have to know the Dodgers are going to make Skubal an offer they hope he can't refuse.

They do have Tyler Glasnow under team control through 2028, Yoshinobu Yamamoto through at least 2029, Blake Snell through 2030 and Shohei Ohtani through 2033, but Skubals don't exactly grow on trees.

If signing him means they have to subsequently trade away a different big contract to make it work, so be it.

He got out to an uncharacteristically rough start to the 2026 campaign. But Abreu was one of the best relievers in all of baseball from 2022-25, and he gave the Astros a 1.87 ERA over his final 44 appearances.

He's still only 29 years old, and if you take out his first 11 appearances of this season, he has a 2.28 ERA over the past half-decade. No one with at least 300 innings of work during that time can boast a mark that low.

Abreu should be headed for a closer role, but maybe the Dodgers make it worth his while to stick to the seventh and eighth innings.

Per MLB.com's pipeline rankings , the Dodgers have five of the top 33 prospects in baseball.

They also have a surplus of starting pitching, even if we disregard free agents Tarik Skubal, Kris Bubic and Eric Lauer. At any rate, they could trade away Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Gavin Stone and Emmet Sheehan and still have a solid six-man rotation. (Assuming Shohei Ohtani returns to pitching in 2027.)

In other words, if any team has a stack of trade chips big enough to entice Cincinnati into at least answering a phone call about Elly De La Cruz, it's the Dodgers.

It'd be pretty funny if Mike Sirota was one of the biggest chips in that offer, considering the Reds gave that now top prospect to the Dodgers two winters ago for Gavin Lux. But if they can get De La Cruz at shortstop and slide Mookie Betts back to second base, that sure would make it tougher to find a weakness in this roster.

Durán broke out in a huge way this season, providing more value than any other Ranger while playing anywhere and everywhere in the field. He's probably going to win the AL Gold Glove for utility players.

He has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining and could be the perfect solution to the question of whether Miguel Rojas is going to come back for one more year at the age of 38.

Gilbert has just one year of arbitration eligibility remaining, and he's probably going to cost around $16M-$17M.

The Mariners certainly don't have to trade him away. Unloading Luis Castillo's contract onto the White Sox over the summer sure did make it easier for them to justify hanging onto Gilbert.

But with Kade Anderson arriving late in the year and Emerson Hancock having a breakout season, it's very likely that Seattle will at least entertain the possibility of turning Gilbert into a top prospect and reallocating that $16M-$17M to a free agent bat that might actually help them bounce back in 2027.

And if the Dodgers are concerned in any way about Ohtani's availability as a pitcher next year, a one-year rental of Gilbert would be quite the insurance policy.

Starting Lineup (vs. Atlanta Braves LHP Chris Sale)

And on multiple levels, the Dodgers ain't broke.

They'll do something about losing Miguel Rojas. We shall see whether that's signing someone like Brandon Lowe or Jazz Chisholm Jr. to man second base so Tommy Edman can serve as the super utilityman or just signing a new utilityman like Mauricio Dubón, but that will likely be their only significant move among the position players.

On the mound, Tarik Skubal is the colossal domino. And if the Dodgers aren't the singular favorite to sign him, they are surely on the short list of candidates with the spending power to do so.

Just to switch things up, though, let's assume for a change that Los Angeles doesn't sign the best pitcher available this winter.

It's still a preposterously loaded staff, as evidenced by the fact that we can't even find room for the likes of Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Will Klein and Kyle Hurt, while also needing to choose between Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki for the No. 6 spot in the rotation.

Inevitably, there will be injuries. It's why the Dodgers have made it a point to have at least 10 viable starting pitchers on their payroll over the past few years. But as things presently stand—with not a single pitcher already on the 2027 shelf for Tommy John recovery—they sure are deep and looking like the preseason favorites yet again.