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Austin Barnes, dean of the Dodgers roster

San Francisco Giants v Los Angeles Dodgers Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

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.

Dodgers with longest continuous time on the 40-man roster

Player Date last added to 40-man
Player Date last added to 40-man
Austin Barnes Dec 10, 2014
Julio Urías May 27, 2016
Walker Buehler Sep 6, 2017
Max Muncy Apr 17, 2018
Caleb Ferguson Jun 6, 2018
Will Smith May 27, 2019
Tony Gonsolin Jun 26, 2019
Dustin May Aug 2, 2019
Gavin Lux Sep 2, 2019
Victor Gonzalez Oct 31, 2019
Brusdar Graterol Feb 10, 2020
Mookie Betts Feb 10, 2020
Andre Jackson Nov 20, 2020
Blake Treinen Jan 5, 2021
Alex Vesia Feb 12, 2021
Phil Bickford May 3, 2021
Justin Bruihl Aug 8, 2021
Evan Phillips Aug 16, 2021
Michael Grove Nov 19, 2021
Jake Amaya Nov 19, 2021
Jorbit Vivas Nov 19, 2021
James Outman Nov 19, 2021
Eddys Leonard Nov 19, 2021
Daniel Hudson Nov 30, 2021
Chris Taylor Dec 1, 2021
Freddie Freeman Mar 18, 2022
Ryan Pepiot May 11, 2022
Yency Almonte May 12, 2022
Trayce Thompson Jun 21, 2022
Miguel Vargas Aug 2, 2022
Diego Cartaya Nov 15, 2022
Michael Busch Nov 15, 2022
Jonny DeLuca Nov 15, 2022
Andy Pages Nov 15, 2022
Shelby Miller Dec 2, 2022
Clayton Kershaw Dec 5, 2022
J.P. Feyereisen Dec 14, 2022
Yonny Hernández Dec 15, 2022
Noah Syndergaard Dec 16, 2022
J.D. Martinez Dec 29, 2022
click on each date for detailed information on that particular transaction