If Manny does sign elsewhere and Lozano just strung them a long for a ride then I really worry Reinsdorf is just not going to want to be involved with any top tier free agent again.
Dodgers were presumably holding out on a Joc trade to see what happened with Realmuto. They most likely would have moved Verdugo in that deal and now that he's staying, they're more likely going to be motivated to move Joc.
They must believe that the market for him is non-existent and figure they don't have to go nuts with dollars to get him. It's definitely a gamble but whatever at this point.
This is pretty much how they feel. They can't afford to drop the ball with this. It's only going to get harder and probably significantly so from here.
Jerry is so old school that I could absolutely see him thinking the contracts that players are getting now are ridiculous and he won’t overspend on players.