Austin Barnes, dean of the Dodgers roster

The year 2023 is upon us, a year of heavy turnover for the Dodgers, who already said goodbye to three lineup regulars from last season this offseason as well as the team’s leader in innings pitched.

I ranked every current player based on continuous time on the roster. While the obvious choice for longest Dodgers tenure is Clayton Kershaw, who debuted in 2008 and is back for a 16th season with the team, he was a free agent each of the last two offseasons. While players when on the 60-day injured list or restricted list don’t count against the 40-man roster limit, were counting them as having continuous service since they didn’t actually go anywhere.

What we’re looking for here are the players who have been tethered to the Dodgers 40-man roster the longest.

That brings us to catcher Austin Barnes, who was acquired from the Marlins in a massive three-team, eight-player trade which also involved the Angels during the whirlwind winter meetings in December 2014, a month into the Andrew Friedman-led front office.

Julio Urías has the second-longest tenure on the roster, making his major league debut on May 27, 2016. Despite his extended time with the team, the left-hander remains on the younger half of the roster, with only fifteen Dodgers younger than the 26-year-old Urías.

Only five Dodgers have been on the roster since before 2019. Twenty-eight players were added to the 40-man roster after the team won the World Series in 2020, or 25 players if you exclude Kershaw, Chris Taylor, and Blake Treinen, each of whom tasted the air of free agency before returning to the Los Angeles.

But as for the Dodger who has been on the 40-man roster the longest, without interruption, that’s Barnes. I guess there’s a reason they call him captain.