The champions are not done shopping.
Fresh off another parade, the Los Angeles Dodgers are already hunting the move that could define the next era. According to league sources, their eyes are fixed on Sandy Alcantara, the power right hand who could transform a great rotation into an untouchable one.
The appeal is obvious. Alcantara is not just an innings eater or a radar gun darling. He is a tone setter. When he is right, series change direction on the day he pitches. For a club that measures success in pennants and parades, that gravity matters.
The Dodgers have two goals that tend to conflict: acquire stars without dismantling the spine. Insiders believe the front office thinks it can do both. The framework under discussion would send premium prospects to the Miami Marlins while carefully guarding the major league core. It is a chess problem with October stakes.
Miami, predictably, would ask for the moon. Alcantara is still young enough to anchor a staff for years, and his resume carries a Cy Young caliber season and the kind of durability teams crave. The Marlins know exactly what they hold.
So what would it take? More than one blue chip name, certainly. Pitching depth near the majors. A position player who projects as everyday. Perhaps a lottery ticket arm still wrapped in potential. The Dodgers have that currency, and they have shown again and again they are willing to spend it when timing is everything.
Timing is everything here.
The Dodgers have rotation talent in waves, but they also have question marks that only October answers. Arms get tired. Postseasons find flaws. Alcantara, by reputation and resume, is the kind of pitcher who shortens series and calms chaos. He does not blink when hitters lean in. He leans back.
There is also a psychological element. When a defending champion adds a frontline starter, the rest of the league hears it as a warning. The message is not subtle: we are still building, and you are still chasing.
From a roster perspective, the calculus is surgical. The Dodgers do not want a splash that creates a hole. They want pressure relief. They want redundancy that becomes dominance. In Alcantara, they see innings that protect bullpens, starts that rescue weekends, and a presence that drifts through clubhouses like a weather report.
Nothing is done yet. The winter has a way of making bold ideas disappear in contract language and medical reviews. But the interest is real, and the fit is loud.
For Miami, the decision is philosophical. Do you hold your ace and build around him, or do you cash in and grow faster? For Los Angeles, it is simpler. Do you turn advantage into inevitability?
In this chapter, the Dodgers are not acting like a team that just won. They are acting like a team that intends to keep winning.
Alcantara would not be icing on the cake.
He would be the heat in the oven.
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