Dodgers loaded roster could lead to spring training Battle Royale

It’s said that baseball teams can never have too much depth. That was proven correct by the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, when a record 28 different players landed on the disabled list.

But what happens when a roster is so deep, it tests the limitations placed on it by standard baseball rules? That’s the dilemma the Dodgers are going to face in spring training now that they’re close to completely healthy and still adding players left and right.

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On Friday, the Dodgers made two additions to their already loaded roster by agreeing to re-sign second baseman Chase Utley and adding outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, both on one-year deals. That pushed their roster depth from ridiculous to absurd, and could result in a full-scale Battle Royale to determine which players make the opening day roster and which players might be heading out of town.

In fact, there might be no way around it.

The Dodgers 40-man roster is currently maxed out, and that’s before adding Utley, Gutierrez or Sergio Romo, who they also reached an agreement with this week. That means three spots will have to be opened before those players can make their agreements official. We’re guessing the incoming players would prefer that to happen sooner than later, so something will have to give. That could mean trades, players placed on waivers or on the 60-day disabled list.

The latter seems like a distinct possibility in this instance. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Yimi Garcia and Trayce Thompson are all candidates for the 60-day DL, which lines up with the space needed. But that only temporarily solves the problem.

Eventually, those players will heal. Inevitably, the Dodgers will want to sign more players. Unfortunately, the roster limit will still be 40. Beyond that, the Dodgers can only carry 25 men on the opening day roster. That means some good players are going to be the odd men out come April.

We’ll just look at the logjam among the Dodgers position players since that’s where Friday’s signings were focused.

Adrian Gonzalez, Logan Forsythe, Corey Seager and Justin Turner will make up the starting infield, with Yasmani Grandal serving as catcher. Joc Pederson is locked in as the center fielder, but there are now no less than seven options to fill the other starting and backup outfield roles, and that doesn’t count the injured Thompson.

Oh, and here’s another roster possibility that would make things even tighter.

Ideally, the Dodgers would roster a versatile infielder. That role would presumably belong to Chris Taylor. That would leave two starting outfield spots and perhaps only one bench spot open for Andre Ethier, Enirique Hernandez, Yasiel Puig, Andrew Toles and Scott Van Slyke.

Indeed, that will create some insane competition and some critical decisions for the Dodgers coaching staff and front office.

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Naturally, the one name that stands out is Yasiel Puig. We’ve heard trade rumors attached to him for nearly two years. But it’s not always that easy. It might make sense to dangle him, but that doesn’t mean it will make sense to trade, especially if his value is down or a better offer pops up elsewhere.

These are just some of the possibilities that will land on the desks of Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi. For the next seven weeks, their job will be to evaluate those options to help the Dodgers secure a fifth straight division championship.

Or, if push comes to shove, a Battle Royale may not be such a bad idea.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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