Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: Andrew Friedman Will be ‘Aggressive’ in Trying to Re-Sign Corey Seager

As we tick closer to the end of November, the Dodgers still haven’t made a big splash this offseason. Some depth moves and roster alteration has happened, but each of LA’s top five free agents are still on the open market and free to sign with any team.

But don’t think of that as a reason for worry. Things are going according to plan.



Shortly after the season, Dodgers president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, said he would give every free agent some time to explore the market and figure out what is best for them and their families. Still, the hope amongst Dodger brass is that LA can bring back everyone from the 2021 team.

Of course, that’s simply not a reality.

However, there are players that Friedman is keeping a closer eye on and certainly keeping better communication with. On Wednesday, Andrew joined MLB Network’s High Heat where, among other things, he talked about star free agent shortstop Corey Seager. As you can imagine, he took the diplomatic approach in his statement.

Seager’s obviously meant a great deal to us looking back. And I think we have a pretty demonstrative track record with guys that we know well and have been with us. We’ll be aggressive to try to retain. That being said, we have a lot of other really talented players as well and a whole payroll to look at and manage. He’s a great player. He’s gonna get a great contract rightfully so and time will tell how it kind of plays out.

This once again falls in line with what Friedman has echoed all offseason long. The Dodgers would love Seager — and everyone else — back, but payroll limitations are a reality and the team has quality talent already set in house if someone like Seager or Kenley Jansen or whoever may walk this offseason.

Related: Andrew Friedman Talks Possible Life After Corey Seager, Future at Shortstop

Corey Seager is one of the most coveted free agents this winter. And with links to the Yankees, Rangers, and Tigers that we know of so far, there’s definitely no shortage of suitors for the two-time All-Star. After game 6 of the NLCS, the 27-year-old spoke warmly of his time with the Dodgers and expressed a desire to return. But that was in the height of an emotional moment for a team that had just been eliminated.

The door is absolutely not closed for Corey. In this writer’s opinion, there’s better than a 50/50 shot that he returns to Los Angeles on a long-term deal this offseason. But if does sign elsewhere, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising. Andrew Friedman has been softly putting that possibility in our heads all offseason long.

NEXT: MLB Writer Highlights Scenario in Which LA Could Pivot to Signing Freddie Freeman

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

22 Comments

  1. It’s not going to happen. With Scott Boras as his agent, that’s almost a guarantee that he won’t be back.

    1. Dude, Scott Boras is not this super hero agent you think he is. When JD Martinez left the Tigers as FA, Boras couldn’t find him a new team until February of the following year for way under his market value at 5 years $110 million. Same thing happened with Eric Hosmer, where Boras had to negotiate down his contract for the Padres to take him. In fact in recent years Boras has been out-negotiated by the owners. He’s not the all powerful agent most people perceive him to be. The biggest MLB contracts from Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr, Mike Trout and Manny Machado are all negotiated by different agents and not Boras.

  2. This should tell you they don’t think TTurner is going to stick around after next season.

    Forget sherzer. kershaw, and strikeout artist ct3, go hard after seager, bryant and suzuki.

    1. You really think that they won’t extend the MLB batting champion? He had the highest batting average in all of baseball, not just the National League. They need to resign Scherzer and CT3. They also need to sign Kris Bryant and Robbie Ray.

  3. With Andrew Heaney’s signing; we have around 30 mil of space under the luxury tax threshold. Soooo–not sure how this plays out. Bauer being cut would give us another 35. This tells me that if Friedman wants to stay under that level; we either get serious deferrals, or we only get to re- sign a couple of our free agents.We hit 210 and we have 2 years in a row over the luxury tax threshold.

    1. The Dodgers only have $107 mil committed for 2023, and $30 mil for 2024 and beyond.

      While I don’t know how the luxury tax system works, could they go over in ’22, and then be back under in ’23 and beyond without much in penalty?

      If Friedman is really looking at this from a long-term perspective, paying a tax one more year is not a big deal if you can stay under for the next five…..

  4. Money erases loyalty to those that made it possible for you to make money in the first place. Scott Boras doesn’t deal in loyalty and neither does a player that signs with him. It will be obvious that Seagar will not be thinking how much the Dodgers wanted him back r what they’ve done for him, as that’s Boras’ first rule of negotiating…you owe them nothing. I’ll take a guess and say players that sign with Boras and return to the same team is a very low number.

    1. Loyalty goes both ways…win the WS/NLS MVP…they don’t offer you a big deal but do to Mookie and Bauer…Friedman made this situation what it is…then as sort of a threat I guess he gets Turner…thats OK to do..but if you want Seager as your guy that is bad optics

  5. Boras can’t force players to be greedy or disloyal to their team. I find it appalling that guys we’ve grown to care about on the field eagerly switch teams for amounts that raise their lifetime earnings from maybe $150m to $170m. They will never spend it, although their unknown grandchildren might be able to afford a Lamborghini instead of a “mere” Ferrari. We are the ones who pay, through tickets, concessions, and cable TV bills. Most teams turn over 90% of their roster within five years. We no longer root for a team; we root for a uniform.

    1. Tom…these guys also have a responsibility not to take too much of a discount…in order not to hurt the guys coming up behind them…but it’s always on the players that the fans want to take the financial hit…as I said Mookie 365 mil…Bauer 40 mil per…so if iam Seager and Taylor iam not taking a discount …because the Dodgers overpaid other players

      1. So you think players owe more to guys coming up behind them than their teammates? Baseball is the only sport where star players on big contracts never re-negotiate to allow teams to sign other good players. The money paid for exceeding the luxury is almost meaningless but the loss of draft picks has a severe negative effect on the club’s future ability to compete and players know – or should know – this. BTW: JT took a team friendly deal first time around giving the team flexibility to sign others and win and the team made good on that for him the next time. That’s how it should be for winning players.

    2. “Boras can’t force players to be greedy or disloyal to their team.”

      True, but he’s the guy that will take the heat for the player being greedy or disloyal. A hitman of sorts hired by players to do what they won’t say outright themselves.

  6. Right Tom we do pay for this through our tickets, etc… We can generalize or we can look at the market circumstances. Reasonable assumptions include he wants to sign before Dec 1 if possible and the Dodgers will make him an offer once he and Boras are done shopping around. We haven’t had totally unreasonable interactions with the slime bag Boras but every negotiation is a battle.
    The Wankee’s haven’t gone big for him yet but they do seem to have closed the door on Correa; his chief competition. It feesl like Andrew and NYY are both playing wait and see. I’d prefer to let him walk and use the money for our many other higher priorities.
    Bottom line, our chances are as good as any team’s of signing Cory and no team in their right mind would give him what their asking. He’s too darn injury prone and destined to play third base long before his next contract will be up AND we don’t even know if he can play a decent third base.

    1. Oh, and one final thought: Andrew always says he will make a strong effort for our top free agents. For what it’s worth, there’s very little about Seager’s free agency vs. others we would like to retain…other than what he would cost. We have a pretty good record of signing the one’s we truly want back.

  7. We hit around 248 mil for 21. 38 mil above. So we had a 32% tax. If we got above 210 in 22, we get basically the same tax because of the 2 years in a row. Pretty much rough guess, but seems to be pretty close. Not sure Friedman hits 210.

  8. I thank Corey Seager with play for the Dodgers. Even though he like the pin stripes. I am looking for the Dodger for a big pay day of 275 million for ten years. Now about Trey Turner he will plays second base and Justen Turner well play Third Base. Max well be a starter again for the Dodgers and We the Blue fan see him retire as a Dodger Blue. I have one more request about Chris Taylor He is going to play left field. and rotate to 3rd base and once a while in 2nd base. Okay all you fans out their Clayton well sign for the Dodgers for two more years. Price I don’t know. Bellinger Center field. Mookie right flied. Max Muncy first base. We will win in 2022 world championship again. God Dodger Blue Tean. Fan since I was 11-year-old I am notw 74 years young. God bless our Blue Team Go Dodger Hoowa..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button