{"id":966352,"date":"2026-11-11T07:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T07:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/966352\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T07:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T07:26:14","slug":"dodgers-brandon-gomes-talks-tarik-skubal-shoki-oda-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/966352\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ Brandon Gomes talks Tarik Skubal, Shoki Oda and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAS VEGAS\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Standing outside of a packed conference room, half a day into General Managers meetings, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes<\/a> said none of his conversations leading up to or since arriving in Las Vegas had painted a clear picture of how the free agent or trade markets would play out over this month.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers<\/a> are going to take a \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d approach to the offseason, prepared to react whenever those markets reveal themselves. But even if Gomes and president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman aren\u2019t ready to predict how threat of a lockout \u2014 expected to go into effect when the current CBA expires on Dec. 1 \u2014 will affect their offseason, it will surely color this transaction window.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers don\u2019t have any gaping holes to fill this winter, but they still need to fortify their roster if they hope to reclaim their spot at the top of the league.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have already hired former Marlins hitting coach Pedro Guerrero<\/a> to fill the only opening on their coaching staff, and made their first offseason acquisition, claiming infielder Christian Cairo<\/a> off waivers from the Mets on Monday.<\/p>\n

Their most pressing needs are their bullpen and bench, areas that often draw less fanfare. But the Dodgers also have a track record of splashy offseason moves.<\/p>\n

Here are takeaways from Gomes\u2019 media availability Tuesday:<\/p>\n

Dodgers engaged with Tarik Skubal\u2019s camp \"Tarik <\/p>\n

Tarik Skubal during Game 1 of the NLCS.<\/p>\n

(Ashley Landis \/ AP)<\/p>\n

As Freidman said they would, the Dodgers have remained in contact with southpaw Tarik Skubal<\/a>\u2019s camp, Gomes confirmed Tuesday. And they expect to have a meeting \u201cat some point,\u201d Gomes said.<\/p>\n

Skubal is the top free agent available this offseason and is sure to garner interest from all the heavy hitters. The Mets have a meeting scheduled with him next week, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 pitch started when they acquired him at the trade deadline this year. But it\u2019s unclear just how aggressive they will be in pursuit of a reunion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of it is continuing to see what this all looks like,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cHe was awesome getting to know. He fit in great into the clubhouse. Obviously, we know what kind of pitcher he is. So for us, it\u2019s understanding what this all looks like, as far as what does our team need? What does the contract look like? Where does he end up? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we love the player, we love the human, and you kind of have to let things play out to understand what that looks like, and if it\u2019s something that we\u2019re gonna ultimately execute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japanese phenom Shoki Oda on the Dodgers\u2019 radar<\/p>\n

Oda, 18, plans to go straight from high school baseball to the United States, foregoing a stint in Nippon Professional Baseball. He\u2019s begun meeting with major-league teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s super talented, really projectable, fun to watch him throw,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cI know our international guys have watched him closely, and you know, I\u2019m not sure how that all shakes out exactly. But we think really highly of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he\u2019d had a visit with the Dodgers, Gomes said with a smile: \u201cPotentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodgers looking for Miguel Rojas replacement \"Who <\/p>\n

Who can fill Miguel Rojas\u2019 shoes?<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Rojas has already begun the transition into his player development role with the Dodgers, working with Dodgers prospects in the Arizona Fall League. But now the Dodgers have to fill the hole his retirement left on the roster.<\/p>\n

New-addition Cairo adds depth to the infield group and like Rojas is a right-handed hitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has really good bat-to-ball (skills), good defensively in a bunch of different spots,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cOur scouts have flagged him as somebody that they really liked, and makeup was really strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran utility player Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> also entered free agency. But in a similar situation last year, the Dodgers brought him back on a one-year deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cKik\u00e9\u2019s been such a huge part of what we\u2019ve done in the past, and we\u2019ll continue to have those conversations,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cBut what that looks like right now, I have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the season, with switch-hitting utility player Tommy Edman on the IL, the Dodgers had two young second basemen competing for the left-handed-hitting side of the platoon. Alex Freeland won the job, and Hyeseong Kim, in his second year of a three-year contract worth $12.5 million, made nearly three quarters of his plate appearances in Triple-A.<\/p>\n

\u201cComet did not have the year that he was expecting offensively, but he has so many skills that fit us well,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cDiving in this offseason, to continue to chip away at the potential swing changes, and he worked on some stuff at the end of the year that he felt pretty good about after presenting a plan. He\u2019ll continue to work through those things and hopefully he\u2019ll take a step forward on the swing mechanics and get him into a really good place offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Important offseason for Josue De Paula \"Josue <\/p>\n

Josue De Paula warms up before Game 2 of the NLDS.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

De Paula<\/a> not only proved that his offensive skills were major-league ready last season, but also earned a spot on the postseason roster with a mature approach in high-pressure situations.<\/p>\n

For him to claim a regular role next year, however, he\u2019ll have to continue to progress on defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is dead set on proving that he\u2019s going to be a really good defender,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cAnd he has a good setup in the off season with people around him that he\u2019s going to go out and you know really get after it. And we have full confidence that he\u2019s going to put the work in to really continue to take those steps forward and be the complete player that we all know he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lockout will add another wrinkle. Because he\u2019s on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers won\u2019t be able to communicate with him during the lockout, as he works through his offseason program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make sure that we\u2019re set up in a way over this next month to continue to communicate with guys like we we normally do,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cAnd if things shake out in a way that we can\u2019t, we\u2019ll make sure that those conversations on the front end are had to kind of everybody put everybody on the same page moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Standing outside of a packed conference room, half a day into General Managers meetings, Dodgers GM Brandon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":966353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[61864,181907,49,48,34829,511,6690,329489,76647,107115,10083,1502,462,2607,13629,82,10759,12739,2552],"class_list":["post-966352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-approach","tag-brandon-gomes","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-conversation","tag-dodgers","tag-free-agent","tag-gomes","tag-hole","tag-lockout","tag-meeting","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-offseason","tag-roster","tag-sports","tag-spot","tag-takeaways","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}