7 Players the Dodgers Must Target at 2020 MLB Trade Deadline
The Los Angeles Dodgers look like the team to beat in 2020.
They have baseball's best record (22-9) and best run differential (+77), and on paper, it's hard to find a weakness on the roster without nitpicking.
Does that mean it's going to be a quiet trade deadline?
"We're not looking around our team right now, saying we have an acute need at this position, let's go out and get the best one that we can. We feel really good about our group, the depth, even some of the guys we have at the alternate site at USC," team president Andrew Friedman said on a SportsNet LA broadcast (via True Blue LA). "It's not something that we feel like we need to address a specific position. That being said, we don't want to be closed off to the possibility of something lining up that really makes sense."
The Francisco Lindor trade rumors are fun, but the likelihood of the Dodgers gutting their farm system for that sort of blockbuster deal are slim to none.
If the team does make a move, improving their production against left-handed pitching figures to be a focal point. The Dodgers rank 26th in batting average (.206) and 25th in OPS (.635) against southpaws on the year.
With Alex Wood on the injured list and both Ross Stripling and Julio Urias struggling with some inconsistency, adding a starter to boost the rotation could also make sense. The rental starter route seems like the most likely approach with so many young up-and-coming arms on the roster providing a bright future outlook.
Focusing on those two areas, we've highlighted seven potential trade-deadline targets for the Dodgers.
The Unknown: IF Phil Gosselin
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2020 Stats: 50 PA, .356/.420/.622 (176 OPS+), 6 XBH (3 HR), 10 RBI
The casual baseball fan has probably never heard of Phil Gosselin.
The 31-year-old utility infielder has played for six different teams over the course of his eight-year MLB career, and he carried a career .263/.312/.355 line and 78 OPS+ into the 2020 season.
However, he has been absolutely raking in a part-time role this season, and the bulk of his damage has come against left-handed pitching.
He's 12-for-28 with three doubles and two home runs in 32 plate appearances against southpaws, and that lines up with his .300/.382/.404 line in 242 career trips to the dish against lefties.
Despite his age, he's controllable through the 2022 season thanks to his limited MLB action, so he would be more than just a rental pickup for the Dodgers.
The Philadelphia Phillies have given no indication they plan to sell, and they in fact made a buyer move earlier this month when they acquired Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree from the Boston Red Sox.
Still, selling high on Gosselin and flipping him for a flier prospect is the type of peripheral move they could consider making if they continue to reside on the wrong side of a .500 record.
The Steady Veteran: IF Asdrubal Cabrera
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2020 Stats:ย 108 PA, .260/.333/.490 (117 OPS+), 11 XBH (5 HR), 17 RBI
Here's a list of all the players with more hits against left-handed pitching than the 13 that Asdrubal Cabrera has tallied so far in 2020:
- Charlie Blackmon, COL: 23
- Tim Anderson, CWS: 15
- Randal Grichuk, TOR: 15
- Xander Bogaerts, BOS: 14
That's it. That's the full list.
The 34-year-old is not just hitting lefties; he's hitting for power against them with three doubles and four home runs in 28 plate appearances on the year.
He was released after a lackluster start to the 2019 season with the Texas Rangers, and he wound up being a key contributor for the Washington Nationals after he was plucked from the scrapheap, hitting .323/.404/.565 with 17 extra-base hits in 38 games.
In other words, he's no stranger to joining the heat of a playoff push.
With all of the platooning that Dave Roberts does, Cabrera's switch-hitting offensive profile and ability to play both second and third base further adds to his appeal.
The Enrique Hernandez Clone: IF/OF Niko Goodrum
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2020 Stats: 114 PA, .190/.263/.410 (80 OPS+), 11 XBH (5 HR), 17 RBI
The Detroit Tigers signed Niko Goodrum as a minor league free agent prior to the 2018 season, and he has been a pleasant surprise for the rebuilding club the past two years.
He's shown a nice mix of power and speed in averaging 28 doubles, 14 home runs and 12 steals during that span, while also offering tremendous defensive versatility.
Sound familiar?
Enrique Hernandez has been an invaluable member of the Los Angeles Dodgers roster since the 2015 season, crushing left-handed pitching and playing all over the field while tallying 8.9 WAR.
He will be a free agent at season's end, so swinging a deal for Goodrum now would provide an immediate boost against left-handed pitching and a long-term replacement for Hernandez in the super-utility role.
Goodrum, 28, is controllable through the 2023 season, and he is 8-for-25 with two doubles, one triple and two home runs against left-handed pitching on the year.
He's a .321/.381/.476 career hitter against lefties in 273 plate appearances.
Moving him would allow the Tigers to get an extended look at potential shortstop of the future Willi Castro as the youth movement continues in Detroit.
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The Buy-Low Roll of the Dice: LHP Mike Minor
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2020 Stats: 6 GS, 0-5, 6.75 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 10 BB, 29 K, 29.1 IP
When the season began, Mike Minor was expected to either be a key member of a contending Texas Rangers team or one of the most sought after players at this year's trade deadline.
After all, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball last season, going 14-10 with a 3.59 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 208.1 innings and finishing eighth in AL Cy Young voting. Those numbers, coupled with a team-friendly $9.8 million contract in the final season of a three-year deal, made him a prime candidate to be a hired gun.
Instead, he has struggled to a 6.75 ERA that ranks 107th among the 115 pitchers who have worked at least 20 innings on the year.
There are reasons for optimism. A 5.31 FIP and 4.47 SIERA suggest he's thrown the ball better than his bottom-line numbers, and he has a long track record of success to lean on, including a career 3.90 ERA and 109 ERA+ in 1,095.2 innings entering the year.
The Rangers would be selling low if they traded him now, but they have no reason not to, unless they intend to extend him a qualifying offer, which seems unlikely at this point.
The 32-year-old went a season-high six innings last time out against the Seattle Mariners, so perhaps he's turning a corner.
If not, he's also had some success pitching in relief in the past, logging a 2.55 ERA and 10.2 K/9 in 65 appearances out of the Kansas City Royals bullpen in 2017.
If the price is right, this is a low-risk, high-reward move that could pay huge dividends.
The Salary Dump: 1B/OF Wil Myers
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2020 Stats: 113 PA, .280/.363/.580 (157 OPS+), 15 XBH (7 HR), 18 RBI
All right, hear me out.
The San Diego Padres still owe Wil Myers a whopping $45 million over the next two seasons, along with a $1 million buyout on a $20 million club option for 2023.
The 29-year-old has not developed into the franchise cornerstone the team thought he would be when he was inked to a six-year, $83 million extension, and last season he was a minus-0.4 WAR player.
However, he has flat-out crushed left-handed pitching this season.
He's 13-for-30 with four doubles and four home runs against southpaws on the year, and he carries an .805 OPS against them for his career with a home run every 21.4 at-bats.
These two teams have linked up before on a salary-dump move, with the Dodgers shipping Matt Kemp to San Diego in a five-player deal prior to the 2015 season.
In order for this to work, the Padres would have to eat a sizable chunk of his remaining contract, but unloading him now when he's producing might be their best opportunity to save some of that ill-advised extension.
If the Padres paid his salary down to the point that he's on something like a two-year, $10 million contract the next two seasons, it would save them money and make it a tenable deal for L.A.
He would give the Dodgers a replacement for upcoming free agent Joc Pederson, and the Padres would have the flexibility to go with an outfield of Tommy Pham, Trent Grisham and top prospect Taylor Trammell in 2021.
The Lefty Masher: IF Hanser Alberto
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2020 Stats: 129 PA, .311/.336/.459, 14 XBH (2 HR), 13 RBI
There's not a better fit for the Dodgers on this year's trade market than Hanser Alberto.
He has been a standout performer for a Baltimore Orioles team that has exceeded expectations, he wears out left-handed pitching, he comes with two remaining years of club control, and his versatility fits perfectly on the roster.
The 27-year-old is 8-for-22 with two doubles and a home run against lefties on the year, and that pales in comparison to what he did against southpaws last year.
In 2019, he had an MLB-leading 88 hits against left-handed pitching, and his .398 batting average trailed only J.D. Martinez (.404) among players who had at least 100 plate appearances against lefties.
He could take over as the starting second baseman for the remainder of the 2020 season before replacing Enrique Hernandez in the utility role next season when Gavin Lux presumably steps into the everyday second base job.
The Dodgers and Orioles are no stranger to trades, having completed the Manny Machado blockbuster just two years ago. The familiarity with the Dodgers' farm system that came from that trade could help the two sides come together on a deal now, since there is no minor league scouting to be done.
Plenty of teams will be in on Alberto if he is shopped, but he should be priority No. 1 for the Dodgers.
The Blockbuster Addition: RHP Trevor Bauer
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2020 Stats: 5 GS, 3-1, 1.65 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 9 BB, 49 K, 32.2 IP
If the 2020 season ended today, Trevor Bauer would have a strong case for NL Cy Young honors.
The 29-year-old leads the NL in WHIP (0.74) and all of baseball in opponents' batting average (.134), and he's tossed a pair of abridged seven-inning shutouts.
He'll be one of the most sought after arms on the free-agent market this coming offseason, though he may not be in the market for a long-term deal, as he's expressed in the past that he may opt to go year to year with his contracts going forward.
"I do intend to sign one-year contracts my entire career," Bauer told reporters last August. "I'm not against signing with the same team by any means, but the reasoning behind that is I want to be on a contender."
His current status as a rental limits his value to a point, but he's still not going to come cheap by any means given his early dominance.
With Walker Buehler headed to the injured list with a blister on his pitching hand, the front office could decide another top-of-the-rotation starter is a necessity.
A North Hollywood native who played his college ball at UCLA, joining the Dodgers would be a homecoming of sorts for Bauer, and the Dodgers are already viewed by many as the favorites to sign him this winter.
If that's the case, an aggressive move to acquire him now would bolster the team's title odds and give the team a head start on negotiations for the upcoming season.
A package built around Josiah Grayโwho was originally selected by the Reds in the 2018 draftโand a lower-level prospect with upside like Andy Pages or Miguel Vargas might be enough to get a deal done.
All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted, and accurate through Wednesday's games.
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