Jimmy Rollins, Dee Gordon Trades Are Wins for Dodgers' Present and Future

After the Los Angeles Dodgers put together the smartest front office money can buy in October and November, said front office didn't seem in much of a hurry to start living up to that title.

But you can mark down December 10, 2014, as the day that Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi and the rest of the Dodgers' new-look front office first made it clear that, yeah, it's pretty darn smart, all right.

Though the details are seemingly still being worked out, we know that the Dodgers pulled off a couple trades on the third day of the winter meetings and who's involved in them.

Courtesy of Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly, we know the Dodgers are acquiring veteran shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Philadelphia Phillies. And according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, we know there's a deal in place between the Dodgers and Miami Marlins that involves Dee Gordon and Andrew Heaney. Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald has the specifics:

Again, these deals aren't all the way done just yet. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com says the Rollins deal requires the commissioner's approval, and MLB.com's Todd Zolecki says there's a third team involved. Going off a report from Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer, that might be the Marlins.

Still, we have a pretty good idea of who's getting what, with the main storylines being the Dodgers getting Rollins and giving up Gordon.

That the Rollins trade is a win for the Dodgers doesn't require much justification. The reigning NL West champs needed a shortstop to replace Hanley Ramirez, and Rollins is a pretty good one.

It's the Gordon trade that may not make sense at first glance. On the surface, the Dodgers just traded an All-Star second baseman for a handful of unknowns. What's up with that?

In a nutshell, this: That's a case of the Dodgers pulling off a textbook sell-high trade.

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Look at Gordon's 2014 stat line, and you'll see a second baseman with a .326 on-base percentage and 64 stolen bases. That's a stat line of a valuable player and certainly a pleasant surprise given how much of an afterthought Gordon was at the start of 2014.

However, Gordon's 2014 might have been too much of a pleasant surprise.

Split	PA	K%	BB%	OBP
1st Half	392	15.3	6.9	.344
2nd Half	258	18.2	1.6	.300

Though Gordon got on base at a .344 clip in the first half, he only managed a .300 OBP in the second half. That's a severe drop-off and one that looks all the more concerning in light of the fact that Gordon's career OBP coming into 2014 was only .301.

Thus Gordon was a good sell-high candidate. And in packaging him with Haren—an overpaid, over-the-hill pitcher who may choose not to pitch another game—and sending him to the Marlins, the Dodgers are getting a potentially explosive haul in return.

You won't be impressed if you look at what Heaney has done in the majors, as the 23-year-old owns a mere 5.83 ERA in only seven appearances. But he was also the No. 9 pick in the 2012 draft, and he owns a 2.77 ERA and 3.85 K/BB ratio in 259.2 minor league innings.

UPDATE: Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 12:30 AM ET

It turns out the Dodgers acquired Heaney just to flip him for another player: Los Angeles Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick.

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register was the first to report the straight-up swap:

Heaney would have looked good at the back end of the Dodgers' rotation, but now you wonder if that was ever the plan all along.

As reported by Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, Brandon McCarthy is set to join the Dodgers on a four-year deal. Instead of a talented but inexperienced left-hander, the Dodgers are adding a talented and experienced right-hander to their rotation.

As for Kendrick, the downside with him is that he only has one year to go until free agency. The bright side is that he's been one of the best offensive second basemen in the league since 2011, and he plays solid defense to boot.

So the Dodgers didn't deal Gordon and Haren to get Heaney and three add-ons. They effectively dealt Gordon to get Kendrick and moved Haren to make space for McCarthy, with three add-ons on the side. Confusing, but in the end they got a more proven hitter for second base and cleared space for a much better pitcher. Put together, the Dodgers did well.

The original article will now continue with minimal revisions.

As for the other three players involved in the Gordon deal...

• Chris Hatcher: He's a 29-year-old right-hander who just posted an impressive 5.00 K/BB ratio in 52 major league appearances in 2014, and he's under control through 2019.
• Kike Hernandez: He's a 23-year-old middle infielder who posted a .321 OBP in 42 major league games in 2014 and a .372 OBP in the minors.
• Austin Barnes: He's a 24-year-old catcher who MLB.com had as Miami's No. 15 prospect, and his career .821 OPS in the minors bodes well for a Dodgers team that needs offense at catcher.

Hernandez gives the Dodgers middle infield depth, while Hatcher and Barnes give the Dodgers bullpen and catcher depth. Knowing how badly they needed those two things at the start of the winter, that's not an insignificant victory.

Now, it could be the Dodgers are underestimating Gordon's breakout. There's a legit argument there, as Gordon did look like a much-improved player for the most part in 2014.

But even if the Dodgers are underestimating Gordon, trading him has netted the Dodgers enough talent that they're probably not going to regret it either way. Friedman and Zaidi are probably pumping their fists right now. Dodgers fans should be too.

As for the Rollins trade, that's an obvious win for the Dodgers for the simple fact that they're getting exactly what they were looking for.

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Soon after Ramirez left the Dodgers for the Boston Red Sox, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reported the team was looking for a short-term option to replace him. All the Dodgers wanted was somebody who could bridge the gap to 20-year-old super prospect Corey Seager.

Rollins fits the description perfectly, as 2015 will be the final year of a contract he signed in 2011.

Another thing Gurnick noted is that the Dodgers were perfectly willing to replace Ramirez's superior bat by offsetting "the lost run production with a run savings differential through improved defense."

Rollins fits this description too. The 36-year-old is no longer a wizard on defense, but he plays a largely mistake-free shortstop and is still easily above-average in the eyes of one of the advanced metrics.

Per FanGraphs, here's where Rollins fits among his fellow shortstops in Ultimate Zone Rating since 2010:

Rank	Player	Inn	UZR
1	Andrelton Simmons	3055.1	51.1
2	J.J. Hardy	6104.1	48.5
3	Jhonny Peralta	5176.0	37.3
4	Alexei Ramirez	6928.0	34.2
5	Zack Cozart	3823.1	30.4
6	Jimmy Rollins	5804.1	18.9

That's not bad for a guy who's spent that time period advancing deeper into his 30s, and it speaks to how Rollins doesn't really need his old explosive athleticism to be a capable defender at short. Watch him play, and you'll notice that's thanks to anticipation, footwork and good, old-fashioned arm strength.

As for Rollins' bat, there's no argument that it's anywhere close to as good as Ramirez's. By OPS+, he was roughly a league-average hitter in 2014 and has been a below-average hitter in general since 2009.

The bright side, though, is that Rollins' hitting comes with a solid floor.

He's become willing to take his walks, for one. He also makes more contact than most. And he also has a fly-ball habit that helps boost his power. To boot, his offensive game is also still supported by his speed. After stealing 28 bags at age 35 in 2014, Rollins may have another 20-steal season in him for 2015.

As far as Rollins forming a bridge to Seager, the only way that's not going to work is if the Dodgers realize Seager can't stick at shortstop. There are some who say he can't.

Friedman, however, is not among them.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

"His hands work really well. We have a number of guys who feel like he has a real chance to stick there," said the Dodgers' president of baseball operations last month, via Eric Stephen of True Blue LA. "In the few games we got to see him a couple weeks ago he had a lot of different chances and completed plays from all different angles—to the backhand, up the middle. His body control is really good."

If Seager shows in 2015 that he can indeed stick at shortstop, then he should be ready to go in 2016. If so, his 1.004 OPS across two levels in 2014 says the Dodgers will have a middle-of-the-order hitter at shortstop, a true rarity in today's game.

All told, the third day of the winter meetings was a heck of a day for the Dodgers. They pulled off one trade that turned a brief breakout into a handful of players who can help them in 2015 and beyond, and another deal netted just the shortstop they needed to take them to their next shortstop.

Of course, this is where we note that championships aren't won in December and also that the Dodgers' front office still has decisions to make before the club's roster is ready for 2015.

But if nothing else, the team's latest activity suggests those decisions will be good ones. A front office that was supposed to know what the heck it's doing just proved it knows what the heck it's doing.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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