Dodgers Dugout: Rich Hill is back, but who’s next for the Dodgers?

Hi, my name is Houston Mitchell, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. I wonder if Vin Scully is having second thoughts and wants to return next season.

Next season’s team

I started off last week’s Dodgers Dugout with this, and will run this after every trade or signing so we can see the roster take shape. Let’s take a look at a projected 25-man roster if the season started today:

Catchers: Yasmani Grandal, Austin Barnes

First base: Adrian Gonzalez, Darin Ruf

Second base: Micah Johnson, Charlie Culberson

Third base: Rob Segedin

Shortstop: Corey Seager

Left field: Andrew Toles, Trayce Thompson (or Scott Van Slyke)

Center field: Joc Pederson, Enrique Hernandez

Right field: Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier

Starting rotation: Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda, Julio Urias. The fifth spot would go to Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir, Hyun-jin Ryu, Alex Wood or Jose De Leon

Bullpen: Luis Avilan, Pedro Baez, Grant Dayton, Josh Fields, Yimi Garcia, Chris Hatcher or any of a cast of thousands.

Added since last time: Rich Hill, who gets a three-year, $48-million deal. The Dodgers also agreed to one-year deals with the underachieving Scott Van Slyke and human gas can Chris Hatcher, who signs for $1.25 million after finishing last season with a 5.53 ERA. Van Slyke hit .225 with one homer and gets $1.325 million.

Say good-bye to: Louis Coleman, who was not offered a contract.

What does this mean?

The Dodgers want to start paring down their payroll so it gets closer to $200 million instead of $300 million. Let’s look at who is making what so far next season:

Clayton Kershaw: $35.6 million

Adrian Gonzalez: $22.36 million

Scott Kazmir: $17.67 million

Andre Ethier: $17.5 million

Rich Hill: $12.67 million

Brandon McCarthy: $11.5 million

Yasiel Puig: $8.2 million

Hyun-jin Ryu: $7.83 million

Kenta Maeda: $3.12 million

Scott Van Slyke: $1.325 million

Chris Hatcher: $1.25 million

Charlie Culberson: $550,000

That brings us to $139.575 million. And that doesn’t include re-signing Kenley Jansen or Justin Turner, plus the raises players like Yasmani Grandal will get in arbitration. It also doesn’t include the approximately $47 million they will be paying guys such as Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford to not play for them in 2017.

My big fear is that they will re-sign Turner and Jansen and present a narrative that the off-season has been wonderful for them. And it will be good to re-sign those guys, but that will mean the Dodgers will go into next season with the same basic team as last season: a team that could not hit left-handed pitching.

But let’s not put the cart before the horse. The Dodgers have recently been linked with Andrew McCutchen in trade rumors, not to mention the Ian Kinsler and Todd Frazier trade rumors. Plus they seem to want to bring Chase Utley back, and re-signing Hill gives them greater flexibility to trade someone like McCarthy, Ryu or Kazmir.

Plus, with Jansen rumored to be getting a five-year, $80-million offer from Miami and Aroldis Chapman wanting a six-year contract, the Dodgers are suddenly interested in Kansas City reliever Wade Davis, who will be getting only $10 million next season. Davis is 19-4 with a 1.18 ERA and 47 saves over the last three seasons. There’s a good argument to be made that he would be better than either Jansen or Chapman.

Whatever happens, it will be a lot of fun to watch the roster take shape over the next couple of months.

In case you missed it

Clayton Kershaw says his back is no longer injured.

The Dodgers want Yasiel Puig to be a lean machine next season.

And finally

Rich Hill pays tribute to his late son, Brooks. Watch it here. Have some tissues handy.

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me and follow me on Twitter: @latimeshouston