1 player Dodgers must trade before spring training

With the start of the 2026 MLB season just over two months away, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in a bit of a holding pattern.

Sitting with a full 40-man roster after claiming ex-Minnesota Twins infielder Ryan Fitzgerald off of waivers, the team could roll into spring training and opening day as it is, with more or less the same roster that won two World Series in a row, plus “Narcos” slinger Edwin Diaz as their new closer. Andrew Friedman is bringing back seven of their eight regular season starters minus Michael Conforto – who fans are happy to see gone – and has more starting pitchers than he has spots, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani all locked in to starting roles with Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, and Justin Wrobleski competing for that fifth and final spot.

The team could also make a minor move to shore up their roster on the margins, signing a player like Harrison Bader, who is an upgrade over Conforto and could provide more pop than Alex Call alongside Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández in the outfield. World Series hero Kike Hernandez, too, remains a free agent and will likely remain so until he is healthy enough to play following November elbow surgery.

And then there’s the elephant in the room: signing another star player.

Even after Alex Bregman came off the board during a Saturday to remember for fans in Chicago, there are still multiple premier stars left on the free agent open market, from ex-Toronto Blue Jays infielder Bo Bichette, to ex-Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker, and one-time Dodger Cody Bellinger. While the Dodgers would be penalized severely to add one of those players, both in terms of MLB tax penalties and in the court of public opinion, if the market dries up and an agent comes calling, LA has shown they are more than willing to pay up in the pursuit of a World Series win.

All in all, if the Dodgers decide they do want to go through Door 2 or 3, they first need to free up at least one more roster spot to add a player who can help them out in 2026. Fortunately, the team has a player on their roster who did almost nothing to help out their World Series win in 2025, and could theoretically bring back something of value for a team in need of a reserve innings eater off the bench.

The Dodgers should move on from Brock Stewart after failed trade

When the Dodgers acquired Brock Stewart from the Minnesota Twins before the 2025 MLB trade deadline, it felt like a solid enough buy-low option for a team looking to improve their stock heading into the World Series while maintaining their elite farm system depth.

Sure, he wasn’t Jhoan Duran, who landed in Philadelphia, or any of the offensive upgrades like Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor, or Eugenio Suárez, but for a savvy team looking to add production without the name value, Stewart brought some interesting things to the table.

Initially drafted in the sixth round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Dodgers, the 34-year-old played very well over the past few seasons in Minnesota, recording an ERA of 2.33 over 77.1 innings pitched. Though he only earned a single save over his run with the Twins, he proved a quality piece of Minnesota’s puzzle, allowing just 60 hits, 20 runs, and six home runs over 83 appearances over two and a half seasons of action.

On paper, that kind of production would have been ideal for a Dodgers team that struggled mightily when their starters left the mound in 2025. Free agent additions like Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates really struggled to live up to their former production elsewhere, and returning players like Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, and Anthony Bonda all saw their production dip from their usual LA averages. Even if he wasn’t the kind of relief pitcher many fans clamoured for, Friedman and company believed he was the kind of pitcher they needed, which, when coupled with the price of just James Outman and the addition of Paul Gervase in a separate deal, made the juice worth the squeeze.

What Friedman didn’t expect, however, was for Stewart to appear in just three more games than Gervase and produce way below his Twins pedigree. Granted, the sample size was small, just four games, but over 3.2 innings pitched, Stewart earned an ERA of 4.91, allowing six hits, two runs, and two walks versus just three strikeouts. Stewart was placed on IR with shoulder discomfort, and his season ultimately ended without a single throw in the postseason.

Could the Dodgers bring back Stewart? Sure, but they clearly didn’t need him last season and will likely have Wrobleski and maybe even Sheehan coming out of the bullpen in 2026 behind the best starting five in baseball. Factor in the Dodgers’ returning depth and young players like Gervase and River Ryan, and if another team is willing to give up something of value for Stewart, Los Angeles would be remiss to not at least consider it. Fortunately for Stewart, he is a World Series Champion and, considering he’s been acquired by the Dodgers three times in his career, he might just make his way back to Los Angeles again at some point in the future.

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