It looks like a youth movement is on the way to Dodger Stadium, at least in part. Dodgers president of baseball operations has hinted this offseason about filling out the starting rotation with young pitchers and putting prospects at some of the positions where they have holes, and team CEO Stan Kasten has hinted at a youth movement, too.
Now, general manager Brandon Gomes went on MLB Network this week and talked a bit about how Los Angeles will approach their stacked farm system and how best to utilize it in the big leagues.
“It’s a huge part of sustaining success over a long period of time. We’re fortunate enough to have a great ownership group that allows us to go out and play in the free agency market. But in order to sustain the success, we have to continue to bring up those young guys that have been drafted or traded for.
“I think, unfortunately, things tend to play out, play themselves out, with injuries or different things, guys getting banged up and we’re able to get somebody a few at-bats here and there. So, in general, we’ll target a few guys looking to see, okay this is a good time to get them more playing time, and other guys, hey we’ll target something along the lines of, if there’s an injury this is our first layer of depth.”
What this means, from a practical standpoint, is that we won't have a total youth movement in L.A. in 2023. It also leaves the team open to adjust based on how the rest of the postseason plays out. If Gavin Lux is the starting shortstop in 2023, that opens up second base for Michael Busch or even Miguel Vargas, but they're not locked into Lux at SS if they end up getting Dansby Swanson, Carlos Correa, Willy Adames, or someone else.
Similarly, James Outman could be the Dodgers' starting center-fielder, or he could be a fourth outfielder getting occasional playing time. Bobby Miller could be the fifth starter straight out of spring training, or he could be the first man up when Clayton Kershaw or Tony Gonsolin or someone else needs a 15-day breather.
The options are virtually endless for a team with as much high-minors talent as L.A. If they were a small-market team, they'd be looking to start Vargas, Outman, Busch, Miller, Gavin Stone, Ryan Pepiot, Jacob Amaya, and others at the big-league level. But because they're the Dodgers and they plan on contending for a World Series title next year, their approach will be more measured.
We'll start to get a better idea as the offseason rolls on, depending on which moves they do and don't make, and then spring training will tell us a lot more.
It's a challenging tightrope to walk, but it's a pretty good challenge to face.
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