Top offseason acquisitions each year: L.A. Dodgers

 

Every starting pitcher in the Dodgers' rotation this year has had injury issues, except for Clayton Kershaw.

It's particularly ugly right now (also grrrrrr to the schedule-makers for pitting the Dodgers against the Padres, Twins, Cardinals, Braves and Rays consecutively with the back two-thirds on the road and just one day off). Only Kershaw and Gonsolin are able to pitch, and I think maybe Syndergaard. Almost none of them can go more than five.

 

I received this Big League Noah Syndergaard card from madding of Cards On Cards recently and it's to be determined if the diminished Thor is the Dodgers' top offseason acquisition of 2023. J.D. Martinez and Jason Heyward are also in the running but nothing's been too inspiring so far.

A couple of weeks ago the blog Red Sox Fan In Nebraska listed out the Red Sox's top offseason transactions for each year going back to 1991. I thought that was interesting and looked up the same for my Dodgers. But I went through the history of the L.A. Dodgers, back to 1958.

In that Red Sox post, Metallattorney broke down the transactions for each year into the "best," the "best that year" and the "most hype." I'm just picking one (in most cases) for each year, while still considering all those factors before picking.

 

For "offseason," the timeline I selected was from the end of the previous season until very early April of the current season, just before the season start.

Also, I snapped pix of a card for each player, but didn't for the first couple of years, mostly because I got sick of researching. Here we go:

1958: Frank Howard

1959: Wally Moon

 

Notes: Maury Wills should figure in here, too, and I probably unfairly didn't pick him but the Dodgers kept giving him up and then taking him back so it's a little confusing how and when to define the transaction.

 

1960: Ron Perranoski

1961: Howie Reed

1962: Lee Walls

1963: Bob Miller

1964: Lou Johnson

1965: Claude Osteen

1966: Phil Regan

1967: Ron Hunt

1968: Tom Haller

1969: Andy Kosco

 

Notes: The Dodgers did very well in acquiring pitchers, particularly relievers, that paid off for them. But by the end of the decade, there was one dud move after another involving players like Zoilo Versailles, Mudcat Grant and Rocky Colavito ... I skipped a card of Howie Reed just because it took Topps until 1965 to show him as a Dodger. ... 1964 was a toss-up between Lou Johnson and Jim Brewer. Brewer lasted longer but Johnson was a World Series star. Then I went the opposite way in 1963 as the Dodgers got some good mound years out of Bob Miller although Bill Skowron snapped out of his season-long slump to hit .385 for L.A. in the '63 World Series.

 

1970: Jerry Stephenson

1971: Al Downing

1972: Tommy John

1973: Andy Messersmith

1974: Mike Marshall

1975: Burt Hooton

1976: Dusty Baker

1977: Rick Monday

1978: Terry Forster

 

Notes: OK, now we're talking! I get to use O-Pee-Chee and Traded cards! ... Jerry Stephenson appeared in just three games for the Dodgers and recorded an ERA of 9.45 but the Dodgers made almost no moves in the 1969-70 offseason. It's very interesting to see what the offseason was like before the arrival of free agency, not only were there almost no free agent signings but much fewer trades. GMs are far busier these days. ... The '72 acquisition of Tommy John delivered in the long run but the big news with that trade was Frank Robinson was going to the Dodgers. ... Also, the offseason isn't the only time for big pick-ups. The Dodgers added Reggie Smith seven months after adding Baker but I'm not counting midseason moves.

 

1979: Jerry Reuss

1980: Jay Johnstone

1981: Ken Landreaux

1982: Mark Belanger/Jorge Orta

1983: Pat Zachry

1984: Terry Whitfield

1985: Al Oliver

1986: Alex Trevino

 

Notes: I picked two transactions for 1982 because they were equally bad and I couldn't break the tie. ... Jay Johnstone gets the pick for 1980 even though the Dodgers plunged into the free-agent market before the season by signing pitchers Dave Goltz and Don Stanhouse. Both of them flopped while Johnstone was still around for the 1981 World Series where he was a hero of Game 5. ... The Goltz and Stanhouse signings scared the Dodgers away from big free agents for several years until the late '80s as evidenced by the next few "top" acquisitions through the '80s. ... Jerry Reuss is among my very favorite Dodgers' offseason transactions. He arrived in a deal with the Pirates three days before the season. His first year with L.A. was not good but he became a consistent standout for years after that and was another Series hero. 

1987: Mickey Hatcher

1988: Kirk Gibson

1989: Eddie Murray

1990: Juan Samuel

1991: Darryl Strawberry

1992: Eric Davis

1993: Todd Worrell

1994: Chan Ho Park

1995: Hideo Nomo

Notes: This is where the "big-spending Dodgers" gained their reputation, beginning basically in 1989 (Eddie Murray was a trade but the Dodgers also signed Willie Randolph that offseason). The Dodgers signed big free agents basically every year at this time. In 1990 there was both Samuel and Hubie Brooks. In 1991 I could have picked Brett Butler, who had an impact much longer than Strawberry, but Strawberry's signing was one of the biggest in Dodgers history. Then it was Eric Davis and then it got really silly with players like Cory Snyder. L.A. was addicted. ... Kirk Gibson may be the most successful pick up in Dodgers history even if his stay was short.

 

1996: Greg Gagne

1997: Todd Zeile

1998: Jose Vizcaino

1999: Kevin Brown

2000: Shawn Green

2001: Marquis Grissom

2002: Kaz Ishii

2003: Fred McGriff

2004: Milton Bradley

 

Notes: More big, big signings, many of which didn't pan out well, Green being the exception. ... Jose Vizcaino's acquisition doesn't come close to the biggest deal the Dodgers made in 1998, but the Mike Piazza-Todd Zeile-Gary Sheffield-Bobby Bonilla-Charles Johnson-Jim Eisenreich free-for-all happened in mid-May. ... I didn't want to put Milton Bradley here but he edges out Jose Lima.

2005: Derek Lowe

2006: Andre Ethier

2007: Luis Gonzalez

2008: Hiroki Kuroda

2009: Orlando Hudson

2010: Jamey Carroll

2011: Juan Uribe

2012: Mark Ellis

2013: Zack Greinke

Notes: This period marks the Frank McCourt years of ownership and you can see the declining yield of acquisitions as the years go on (Jamey Carroll?!?!). McCourt's tenure ends just before Zack Greinke's arrival with L.A., which is no coincidence. Also, I could have chosen Hyun-Jin Ryu for 2013. ... That said, Andre Ethier gets top billing in 2006 due to longevity as the Dodgers also added Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra and Takashi Saito that year.

2014: Justin Turner

2015: Yasmani Grandal

2016: Kenta Maeda

2017: Brandon Morrow

2018: Matt Kemp

2019: A.J. Pollock

2020: Mookie Betts

2021: Alex Vesia

2022: Freddie Freeman

Notes: Justin Turner ranks with the biggest steals in Dodgers history. ... I feel a little silly picking Alex Vesia for 2021 given his season this year but the only other options are long-gone relievers, forever injured Blake Treinen or, ick, Trevor Bauer. ... Seems like picking Matt Kemp's re-arrival is a bit lame, too, but it's him or Scott Alexander  --- or Rocky Gale. 

So that was interesting to go through. What really interested me is how much more active teams are in the offseason than they were 35-40 years ago. I still think people put too much emphasis on what their teams do in the offseason ("winning the offseason" is the lamest social media victory lap I know). 

But you can't argue with that line of logic when the player is Kirk Gibson or Mookie Betts.

 

Anyway, here are the other cards that Kerry sent with the Syndegaard. He helped my Big League set along quite well, since I refuse to buy any myself:

Sweet, sweet inserts I won't have to overpay for.