Dodgers to shop for starting pitchers, right-handed power as offseason begins
LA TimesJoc Pederson hit a career-high 36 home runs in 2019 for the Dodgers but could be on the trade block. The Dodgers could use, above all, another front-line starting pitcher to place alongside emerging ace Walker Buehler and another right-handed power hitter. How the Dodgers operate this offseason could again depend on their willingness to spend significant money and perhaps exceed the competitive tax threshold — a soft cap that has hardened not only in Los Angeles but in big markets across the majors in recent years. A document prepared for potential investors before the 2017 playoffs reviewed by the Los Angeles Times outlined a plan to keep the Dodgers’ payroll below the threshold through at least 2021 after they paid a luxury tax in each of the first six seasons of the Guggenheim group’s ownership. Pederson, 27, was on the market last winter, but the Dodgers kept him and he hit a career-high 36 home runs — all against right-handed pitchers.