Padres: Offseason update on NL West competition — LA Dodgers

Halfway through the offseason we stop to take a look at how the San Diego Padres competition in the NL West is stacking up. Here we look at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

We wrap up our offseason update on the San Diego Padres competition in the NL West by taking a look at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The National Leagues West runs through LA where the Dodgers have won the division in seven consecutive seasons and are prepped to do it again in 2020.

If the Padres are ever going to take that next step, they’ll need to take down the mighty Dodgers who they went just 6-13 against this past season.

They return the reigning NL MVP award winner in Cody Bellinger who hit 47 home runs and drove in 115 runs in 2019.

Max Muncy, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Joc Pederson, Alex Verdugo, and Bellinger all finished with 2 WAR or better in 2019, according to FanGraphs.

Hyun-Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler, and Clayton Kershaw formed a strong three-headed monster at the top of their rotation in 2019.

They do lose Ryu to free agency as he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays this offseason.

A bit surprisingly, the Dodgers haven’t made a single big transaction this offseason. But yet they are still the favorites to win the division in 2020 even if they don’t do anything.

They did sign reliever Blake Treinen to a one-year, $10 million deal to try and improve the bullpen, which was a problem at times in 2019.

LA was rumored to have interest in a lot of the top free agents this offseason but were never serious contenders for any of them.

However, they have been linked in trade rumors for Cleveland’s Mike Clevinger and Francisco Lindor.

The Dodgers still have one of the best farms systems in baseball and could trade for just about anyone, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them make a blockbuster move.

But at the same time, as I said earlier, they could do nothing and would still be the overwhelming favorites in the division ahead of the Padres, Rockies, and Diamondbacks.

If the Dodgers don’t do anything else this offseason though, I think they take a step back in 2020 and open the door for the Padres or another NL West team to have a shot late in the season.