Here are some of the key questions the Dodgers hope to answer during spring training:
Is Gavin Lux ready to be the everyday shortstop?
Lux went into spring training last year penciled in to move back to his original position, replacing Trea Turner who left as a high-priced free agent – after Turner had replaced Corey Seager who also left as a high-priced free agent. But Lux suffered a serious knee injury during a spring training exhibition game and missed the entire 2023 season.
Lux was asked at last weekend’s DodgerFest event if there was any doubt he would be ready to go when the season starts.
“Nope,” he said. “I’ll be in Korea.”
When will Walker Buehler join the starting rotation?
The Dodgers plan to be cautious with Buehler in his return from a second Tommy John surgery performed in August 2022. That means an innings limit on him this season – likely less than 150 innings, allowing for more in a deep postseason run.
Buehler has been throwing bullpen sessions at Dodger Stadium already. But he will be “slow-played” during the spring and might not make his regular-season debut until May.
When will Shohei Ohtani be ready to hit?
The Dodgers already know that the two-way star will not pitch again until 2025 after having a second reconstructive surgery on his elbow last year. The question is how much of an impact that surgery will have on Ohtani’s ability to start the season in the Dodgers’ lineup at DH.
Ohtani said he was “very confident” he will be in the lineup when the Dodgers play in Seoul, South Korea on March 20. But so far, his swinging has been limited to hitting off a tee or soft tosses.
What will the top of the order look like?
Betts-Freeman-Ohtani? Betts-Ohtani-Freeman?
How the Dodgers arrange their collection of MVPs in the lineup is what Manager Dave Roberts calls a “high-class problem.”
Roberts has indicated that he wants to talk it through with the trio at some point before Cactus League games start. But from the stage at DodgerFest, he told fans it would be Mookie Betts leading off followed by Freddie Freeman batting second and Ohtani third.
Are there bullpen reinforcements on the way?
Blake Treinen and J.P. Feyereisen spent last year rehabbing from shoulder surgeries. Daniel Hudson returned from a knee injury in June only to suffer a season-ending injury to the other knee three games later.
All three veterans will be in camp this spring, trying to prove they are healthy enough to return to a major-league mound.
