The trade deadline is now behind us and the Dodgers made a flurry of trades during the final hours. As the clock ticked down to 1 PM PST, the Dodgers who appeared as if they weren’t going to make any moves at all, but instead completed three trades with three different clubs for three pitchers. They acquired two left handed relievers and of course the prize of the deadline, all-star right hander Yu Darvish.
In case you missed it, the Dodgers acquired left handed reliever Tony Watson from the Pirates in exchange for two minor leaguers. Those two single-a ball players are considered upside guys or potentially raw talents in the early stages of their developments. 21-year old pitcher Angel German, and 18-year old infielder Oneil Cruz, a pair of Dominican born players were shipped to the Pirates in exchange for Watson.
Loading ...Watson, the 32-year old veteran reliever is believed to be able to help the Dodgers immediately as a situational lefty. The Dodgers hope that his decreased strikeout rates are a blip on the radar of a down season, yet his 43% ground ball rate in 2017 is something that can greatly benefit them. Watson has posted a 2.68 ERA over seven seasons in Pittsburgh. He’s been able to have varied success against left handed hitters, but has struggled this season. He should be able to perform in tandem with Luis Avilan as the primary lefties in the Dodger pen.
The Dodgers also dealt outfielder Scott Van Slyke, and 20-year old rookie league catcher Hendrik Clementina to the Reds for lefty Tony Cingrani. The 28-year old Cingrani was once a prized starting pitcher for the Reds in the beginning of his career, but injuries and poor performance lead to his demotion to the Cincinnati bullpen. While Cingrani has had his issues, namely problems with the long ball, he still can throw hard. Cingrani has posted a 9.3 K/9 rate and struck out 9.3 over the course of his career with the Reds. It’s unclear what his role with the Dodgers will be, but he comes cheap since the flame thrower is earning just 1.83 million dollars this season.
As for Van Slyke, once a useful lefty mashing bat off the bench had fallen out of favor with the Dodgers in recent years due to injuries and poor hitting. He’s certainly sucked over the past several seasons and the Dodgers have little use for him any longer with his positions manned by younger better players. Van Slyke has spent most of the 2017 season in Oklahoma City, with sporadic stints with the Dodgers earlier in the season. Van Slyke was batting .122 (5 for 41) with 2 home runs in 48 plate appearances for the Dodgers this season.
Of course the biggest deal of the frenzy came at the last minute. It wasn’t announced until after the 1 PM PST cut-off. The Dodgers dealt three minor leaguers to the Texas Rangers for right hander Yu Darvish. The Dodgers traded one of their top prospects, Willie Calhoun who was the centerpiece of the swap to the Rangers along with Brendon Davis, and AJ Alexy.
Calhoun was the youngster most coveted by the Rangers as his hitting prowess is well known by now. Despite his defensive issues the 22-year old hitting specialist was batting .298 with 23 home runs and posted a .931 OPS in Oklahoma City this season. Davis is a 20-year old slugger with Great Lakes, and Alexy a 19-year old hurler who has struck out 10.5 per nine innings this year at Great Lakes as well.
Darvish is more than just well known. He was considered the top pitcher rumored to be available at the trade deadline. Darvish is a 4-time all-star who has led the league in strikeouts back in 2012, and struck out 11 batters per nine innings across his five-year MLB career in Arlington. This year Darvish has posted a 4.01 ERA over 137 frames with 148 strikeouts and 45 walks. He’s whiffed 9.8 per nine this season and allowed just 7.6 hits per nine innings in 22 starts. He has a 3.22 career ERA in 122 games and has posted a 52-39 record across 782 big league frames.
Two of the three pitchers (Darvish and Watson) are eligible for free agency this winter, so it is possible they could become short term rentals. Cingrani has two more years of arbitration left and would be under team control until 2020.
The Dodgers definitely bolstered their pitching staff for October, but had to part with some good prospects in order to do it. Do you think the Dodgers had a great day? Or do you think they gave up too much?
Even if Darvish flames out he will likeky play a useful part as an innings eater, to save our bullpen. I’m not a fan of Darvish in pressure packed starts. Meanwhile Buehler keeps putting up great stats at AAA. He’s going to contribute in October and November.
I think the most intriguing piece is Watson. But that’s just me.
Cingrani is interesting too, as a medium term asset.
Actually a little more mature version of Ysla.
Yueh, there is no way that kid is on the playoff roster. He will get a look in September, but it ain’t happening in the playoffs my friend. Not with the MLB tested arms already on this team. Watson is a ground ball guy and to me the sleeper part of the trade.
The latest Fangraphs article by Cameron on the Yu Darvish trade questions why Calhoun’s bat ranked so long compared with other no defense bats. Fir example Schwarber and Bell.
Looks like you’re ahead of the SABR curve again, MJ!
Excepting the pitchers, this is how I see the Dodgers next year:
Outfield: Verdugo, Toles, Puig
Infield: Bellinger, Taylor, Seager, Turner
Catcher: Grandal
Bench: Joc and Agon(subject to trade), Kike, Farmer, and Barnes
We could pray that we get some decent players back in trade for the deadwood we will be TRYING to trade away…
Except for Puig, that outfield has very little power. Toles could probably end up with 10-15 maybe, but you would be very lucky to get 10 out of Verdugo. Which is fine if he is your leadoff hitter. CF is usually a power position. And quit dreaming about trading A-Gone. Nobody takes his contract unless the Dodgers eat almost all of it. If A-Gone is healthy, Bellinger is your left fielder. The loser in the outfield goes to the bench.
I would say you are “half” right about centerfielders hitting for power. History has more than enough examples of those players. ( Mays, Mantle, Snyder…Griffey, Murphy, Jones, Edmonds). But, if you are not one of them. Then you better be like…(Cobb, Ashburn, Lofton, Rivers and McGee), as you have suggested in regards to Verdugo and Toles. The Dodgers are still lacking in over all speed.
I agree with this take. Value has always been measured in a variety of ways. Now those ways come with algorithms that add up to WAR. Pederson has that WAR value because of his OPS. I think he used to be faster, and maybe he’s not working on his speed as he ages. Doesn’t look like it. He might be working his way into a left fielder. I still value strong up the middle and Pederson in center doesn’t spell that to me.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/fish-bytes/article164811257.html
Marlins losing Volquez and their shortstop for season, now is the time to peddle Kazmir and McCarthy to them, cheap….
Yu to start Friday at NY
Interesting read; http://m.mlb.com/news/article/26150368//
About full-blooded Native Americans in the MLB over the years. Names you’ll recognize include, Kyle Lohse, Joba Chamberlain, and Jacoby Ellsbury….
What about Jim Thorpe? He played for the New York Giants under John McGraw.
It’s in there. I just mentioned current players.
Okay, just thought I give the old guy his props.
Right now, I play Utley over Forsythe.
Right now, I’m watching tv.
Utley .240. Forsythe .237. Yeah, Utley is better.
That game was a snoozer. Attendance said 32,000. I think most of them were sleeping or at the concession stand. The place looked empty and it sure was quiet.