{"id":88844,"date":"2025-09-06T07:57:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T07:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=88844"},"modified":"2025-09-06T07:57:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T07:57:53","slug":"dodgers-ws-champion-expected-to-have-big-free-agency-market-per-jeff-passan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=88844","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers&#8217; WS Champion Expected to Have Big Free Agency Market, Per Jeff Passan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2220656498-e1751042175597.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2220656498-e1751042175597.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2220656498-e1751042175597.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2220656498-e1751042175597.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dodgers' WS Champion Expected to Have Big Free Agency Market, Per Jeff Passan\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA &#8211; JUNE 17: Manager Dave Roberts #30 reacts after Shohei Ohtani #17 was hit by a pitch from Randy V\u00e1squez #98 of the San Diego Padres in the third inning at Dodger Stadium on June 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Many talk about all the money the Los Angeles Dodgers have spent over the past few years, and rightfully so. However, Andrew Friedman needs to be applauded for going out and taking risks on players that many other teams didn\u2019t want to touch.<\/p>\n<p>That includes Michael Kopech, who was once viewed as one of the top prospects in Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n<p>Kopech has one of the best fastballs in the league, but for parts of his career, he\u2019s struggled mightily. Prior to joining the Dodgers in a deal with the Chicago White Sox at last year\u2019s deadline, he had a 4.74 ERA in 43 appearances for the worst team in baseball.<\/p>\n<p>He then came to Los Angeles and threw in 24 games, posting a 0.79 WHIP and 1.13 ERA.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Kopech has been dealing with an injury for much of the year, so there are questions about what his free agency might look like this winter.<\/p>\n<p>He finally pitched again for the Dodgers on Sept. 2, allowing one earned run against the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the questions, some believe that he\u2019s put himself in a great position to get paid, including Jeff Passan of ESPN. That\u2019s only, however, if he can throw the baseball at the level he has for the past year and a half in the final two months of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichael Kopech, Dodgers, right-hander: Kopech could make himself plenty of money with a strong September and October. And considering the state of the Dodgers\u2019 bullpen, there\u2019s ample opportunity for him to capture high-leverage innings,\u201d he noted .<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>Can Michael Kopech Bounce Back for the Dodgers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While Kopech didn\u2019t have his best outing when returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the important part here is that he feels healthy.<\/p>\n<p>According to Dodger Blue, Kopech said that he feels great, and while he wants to be better, he feels healthy.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the most crucial aspect for anything that the Dodgers deal with right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I feel pretty good with it all. I feel healthy. And so I think a lot of that will show up as it comes, but kind of getting acclimated here for the next couple days will definitely help with that too,\u201d he said .<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>Free Agency Will Be an Afterthought for Michael Kopech<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Regarding what Kopech and the Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to complete during the postseason, that\u2019s none other than winning another World Series.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019ll worry about free agency when the time comes, which could even see him come back to the Dodgers, considering they\u2019re willing to spend money, but for now, the goal is to win this year and go from there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s been a long season. I\u2019ve had two stints on the 60-day, which you never want to go in on the IL in general, but definitely don\u2019t want to miss this many games,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve pitched like eight innings this year for a team that I really like being a part of.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know we all have the same objective in mind, is to go win another championship, and to not get to be a part of what it\u2019s looked like so far, at least not very much, is disappointing. So I\u2019m definitely eager to get back. It has been a long road, but the end of the story isn\u2019t written yet, so could be very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jon Conahan covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com. Since 2019, his sports coverage has appeared at Sports Illustrated, oddschecker, ClutchPoints and Sportskeeda. More about Jon Conahan<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Dodgers<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff Passan reports a Los Angeles Dodgers World Series champion could see a big free agency market this MLB offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":88846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dodgers&#039; WS Champion Expected to Have Big Free Agency Market, Per Jeff Passan - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=88844\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dodgers&#039; 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