Hey at least they didn’t get Juan Soto. Somehow the Los Angeles Dodgers, who did get pitchers Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott in their latest star additions, will have to try and repeat their World Series title without Soto. He went to the New York Mets.

But the Dodgers still had a pretty good weekend, getting Sasaki Friday and Scott, the former Oriole reliever, on Sunday. They were pretty quiet on Saturday.

But even when it came time to get a player who could only sign as an international amateur and would not necessarily go to the highest bidder and was, theoretically available to all 30 teams, the Dodgers got him too in adding Sasaki.

And keep this in mind. Sasaki, who is rookie eligible, could very likely bring the Dodgers a draft pick by winning National League Rookie of the Year or with a top three MVP finish. He is expected to be a Prospect Performance Incentive eligible player.

For this now great team, this all seemed to truly start rolling in December of 2023 when the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani for $700 million. And then we found out about $680 million was deferred. Say what?

The big free agent reliever name fell off the board yesterday. In predictable fashion, it landed in the Dodgers organization.

Former Orioles left-hander Tanner Scott received a four-year, $72 million contract that reportedly will include a $20 million signing bonus and $21 million deferred. The Dodgers already are paying starters Blake Snell $182 million for five years and Roki Sasaki $6.5 million in an international free agent signing bonus, Teoscar Hernández $66 million for three years, reliever Blake Treinen $22 million for two years and outfielder Michael Conforto $17 million this season.

No team has repeated as World Series champion since the 2000 Yankees. The Giants kept trying by winning in 2010, ’12 and ’14. The Dodgers are really trying.

The Orioles tried to bring back Scott. They were engaged in talks, but the Dodgers pulled away at four/$72 million.

My first thought: Again, it’s amazing how Scott’s career has turned after the Orioles traded him to the Marlins, along with reliever Cole Sulser, for three minor leaguers on April 3, 2022. Outfielder Kevin Guerrero batted .205/.258/.295 last summer in 76 games with Single-A Delmarva. Left-hander Antonio Velez pitched in the independent American Association. Reliever Yaqui Rivera, the player to be named later, went 7-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 37 relief appearances with High-A Aberdeen and struck out 59 batters 54 1/3 innings.

MIAMI – It is an interesting lead-up to the trade deadline this time around in the Orioles clubhouse. Interesting in that the players who are being rumored and speculated about by media and fans alike are players mostly not currently in the Baltimore clubhouse.

There has been more speculation about prospects a step below at Triple-A and questions about whether the O’s deal some of their highest-rated young talent.

I asked Ryan O’Hearn, a veteran of a few deadlines with two teams, how the pre-deadline lead-up has been this year in the Baltimore clubhouse.

“I think guys maybe, a story comes out and they might pay attention to it a little bit. But not to a great degree,” he said. “I know when the deadline is, but don’t know what is going to happen or what Mike (Elias) and the front office want to do. That’s kind of their job to plan out the long-term health and success of the organization, and it’s kind of my job to be present and win a baseball game today. And that is kind of how I look at it.

“Obviously, there are some really good players out there that could be dealt and if we get some of those guys or one of those guys that can help us win, that’s awesome. We want to win deep into October and do special things with this group.”

MIAMI – The signs seem to be pointing toward right-hander Chayce McDermott making his major league debut on Wednesday night and getting a start for the Orioles against Miami.

But it’s not official yet.

McDermott was added to the taxi squad today and could be activated to start tomorrow.

“Not yet,” manager Brandon Hyde said pregame when asked about Wednesday’s starter. “Chayce is here and we’ll see how tonight goes and make a determination after tonight’s game.”

Hyde has said that Corbin Burnes will start Thursday and he would be on normal rest tomorrow, but he's going to get the extra day. He's not starting tomorrow and it is too soon to recall Cade Povich. So again, signs point to a rookie debut in that game. 

Happy New Year. Hope you remembered to hydrate before going to bed.

You’ll know if it wasn’t enough.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to order a water with every alcoholic beverage. You can thank me later.

Do people still use a designated driver, or have Uber and Lyft made it obsolete?

Anyway, the year 2022 is officially behind us and I can begin referring to it as “last season.” But I want to take a final glance. Never can say goodbye.