Andrew Friedman took over the Los Angeles Dodgers 26 days ago and has already completed 10 trades, the latest sending Matt Kemp to the San Diego Padres. Late last night, Friedman also got a new middle infield in the form of Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins and signed Brandon McCarthy to a 4 year $48 Mil deal. The Dodgers offseason is basically complete and it took all of 6 hours for the news to break. Let’s take a deep breath and look at where they stand.
The first deal was to acquire Jimmy Rollins. The deal made sense given the Dodgers hole at shortstop with the departure of Hanley Ramirez to the Red Sox and that Rollins is under contract for just one more year and will not block prospect Corey Seager. It’s still unclear exactly what LA gave up to get Rollins, but the industry agrees that Rollins is a Dodger.
Then, the Dodgers fleeced the Marlins by sending along Dee Gordon and Dan Haren (who has made his intentions to retire if forced to pitch outside of southern California very clear), in exchange for Andrew Heaney, Kike Hernandez, Austin Barnes and Chris Hatcher. I’m planning a longer post on this later, but trust that Kike Hernandez and Austin Barnes will both contribute for the Dodgers right away, likely in limited roles because this team is stacked.
Andrew Heaney was in Dodger blue for all of about 30 mintues until word spread that he had been traded to the Angels for Howie Kendrick. Altogether too briefly: I like this trade for the Angels more than I like it for the Dodgers, but Howie Kendrick is a proven asset. I think this terrible take on an old saying sums up the trade: A bird in hand is worth a little less than a really pretty bird that may or may not be able to fly, but probably can. Heaney is the semi-flightless bird in this situation.
Finally, the much rumored Matt Kemp to San Diego deal finally was agreed upon and Yasmani Grandal will team with AJ Ellis to create a backstop duo whose shared best skill is their ability to take a pitch. The Dodgers also got Joe Wieland, the 25-year old AAA starter who couldn’t crack the Padres rotation last year. Max has more on that here. Read it, but Max likes the Padres move.
So this flury of moves leaves the Dodgers with this team:
Lineup:
- RF Puig
- LF Crawford
- 1B Gonzalez
- 2B Kendrick
- 3B Uribe
- SS Rollins
- C Grandal/A.J. Ellis
- CF Pederson/Heisey/Kike
With a rotation that looks like this
- Kershaw
- Grienke
- Ryu
- McCarthy
- Juan Nicasio?
I may be missing something on the Dodgers number 5 starter, but the dust is still settling after that flurry of moves.
We’ve established that there was a roster overhaul, but did it make the Dodgers better? If we’re awarding one point for each move that made them better, I’m giving the Dodgers 3.5 points. I think they lost the Kemp trade, and tied (for now) on the Kendrick/Heaney deal. That means that they got better, but I’m going to argue that they got less fun to watch.
Swapping Dee Gordon for Howie Kendrick in the everyday lineup makes this team less fun to watch. Swapping Matt Kemp for Grandal and Pederson in the everyday lineup makes them slightly less fun. Brandon McCarthy provides stability in the rotation every fifth day, but that’s way less fun than the uncertainty of Josh Beckett and Roberto Hernandez.
Overall, the Dodgers got better. Improving on a 94-win team by making 10 trades in his first 26 days, Andrew Friedman is just having fun.
-Sean Morash
