Major League Baseball's offseason officially began on Thursday, and the Los Angeles Dodgers lost eight players to free agency as a result. All but one of the free agents are from the pitching side as LA will look to retool its roster in what should be another exciting offseason

One of the aforementioned free agents is two-time Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal. After the Dodgers traded for the superstar with an expiring contract this past trade deadline, the hope was — and likely still is — to sign him long term.

A team insider, however, recently speculated that Skubal will only sign under one condition. The stipulation she pitched relates to the structure of All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker's four-year, $240 million deal that he inked last offseason.

There were also a few off-the-field aspects that were discussed as well, namely Dodgers principal owner Mark Walker and his abrupt selling of his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers just 14 months after purchase, the sale of his minority stake in the Chelsea Football Club, and reportedly, trying to let Charter Communications out of its SportsNet LA contract.

Finally, another exciting aspect of MLB free agency includes the Rule 5 Draft. For players signed at 18 years old or younger, they must be added to the 40-man roster after five seasons (or four if signed at 19 or younger).

If they are not added to the roster, they become part of the pool that teams who do not yet have a complete 40-man roster get to draft. The catch is that the drafted players' team must pay $100,000 to the original team, and the players must be assigned directly to the 26-man roster.

If for some reason the Rule 5 player is removed from the team's 26-man roster, they first must be offered to the previous team for $50,000. Uf they are still unwanted, can then be outrighted to a minor league affiliate.

Here’s all the latest Dodgers news and stories (click the headline for the full article):

Dodgers Tweets of the Day

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on X/Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.