Only a week left until the trade deadline, a week left for the Dodgers‘ Front Office to pull of a trade that will get them the World Series ring Los Angeles so desires.
In order for a trade to happen, obviously, one team must give up players the other team thinks will help enhance its team in exchange for their key player that can greatly enhance the other team’s chances of going far into the postseason. The Dodgers have been notorious prospect huggers, and the ones they have agreed to deal have, for the most past, truly been ones they could part with, and haven’t made them the losers of the trade.
At this point, there are not too many teams that are pure rebuild mode, or too far out of contention. Presumably the Dodgers’ potential trade partners would be looking at either current MLB players or MLB ready players to be included in such a trade, and not just prospects that would be ready a year or two down the line.
So who on the Dodgers current roster could be included, in case such a demand is placed on a potential trade? Two quickly come to mind, after scouring twitter and blog comment sections. Both Austin Barnes and Enrique Hernandez have been a source of ire from the fan base.
As the primary catcher, Barnes is indeed good at that role, and has the confidence of the pitching staff to call a good game. However, his bat has left something to be desired. Being in the lineup 4-5 times a week, and batting before the pitcher, that could kill a lot of rallies. Barnes currently has a batting average below the Mendoza line, with five home runs. He is currently slumping big time, and has only 13 hits in his last 30 games.
But as we’ve said before, now is not the time to make a huge change at catcher, with only 2 months to go before the postseason starts. Despite his bat, Barnes is not likely to be traded.
Hernandez, for his part, was doing terrible earlier in the season. His batting average so far for the season, .242, is right in line with his lifetime average. However as of late he has been on fire. In his last 15 games he’s batting .386, and in his last seven games has a .524 OBP. Kiké has always been streaky at the plate, so who knows where he’ll be on that roller coaster come October. He is very good with his glove, and his versatility makes him an asset to the team. Still unlikely to be traded, but more likely than Barnes.Joc Pederson‘s name is another I’ve seen thrown around as being involved in a potential trade. The Dodgers do have a surplus of outfielders, and Joc has seemed to be odd man out with the signing of A.J. Pollock and play of Alex Verdugo. Still, he has 23 home runs, and that’s not nothing to trade away. But with the team recently giving him many reps at first base, it leads fans to wonder if they are showcasing him for a trade.Matt Beaty is an interesting thought. He has done nothing but rake since he has made his Major League debut in April. He’s got a slash line of .303/.331/.513/.843 with 10 doubles and five homers, and has definitely shown that the big time doesn’t bother him, coming through in the clutch time and time again. The Dodgers don’t currently need another first baseman, with Pederson, Max Muncy, David Freese, and Cody Bellinger all more than capable of playing there. Small sample size for sure, but he could be a player that another team would love to have.
Of course this all really is a lesson in futility, as no one knows what Friedman and Co will do in the coming days. Speculation is all we have until a trade is completely final. Here’s hoping this year’s trade is the one that gets the ring.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
I would doubt seriously that they would even consider trading Joc. And surely not for a reliever which is their biggest need. You just do not trade 20 plus homer guys for a relief pitcher and especially a rental like Smith. Beaty would be of value to some team and obviously be a regular on a different roster, but I also think with Taylor out and the production they have gotten from Beaty being what it is, they do not consider trading him either. Of course as Andy says, with AF, ya just never know.
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Rockies lost to DC in the first game of a double header. Giants losing to Cubs in the 9th. Dodgers can put a little more distance between them and 2nd place tonight. Barria has an ERA over 7. They should be able to take this guy out early.
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Yes, they should be able to take this guy out early. Will they? We’ll know in a few hours. They’re having a hard time concentrating these days. They have a huge lead, it’s hot, the season is ridiculously long. Don’t be astonished if the guy with an ERA over 7 beats them. If the Rockies continue to play so horribly we could be in for a bad few days in Denver. They’ll be very angry when we get to town. I’m expecting that we’ll play a good series in DC, especially if we go up against any of the Nats’ very good pitchers. We’ll have something to prove and it will establish something if we meet up in the playoffs. Other than that, maybe AF needs to trade someone off the 25 man roster to shake things up a little.
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The Rockies do not scare me one bit. They are toast and their pitching is so bad. They have even said that Blackmon is available for trade. Scherzer might not be ready to pitch this weekend, he is having back problems.
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So Bear, you won’t trade Joc for a rental. Would you trade him for Vásquez? Plug Beaty in his place?
Kiké does this every year. His projections are all over the place but average around .245/.327/.444. He’ll probably get there.
Hey… all of a sudden I am recognized and have edit capability. Only on my phone.
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I say let’s do Joc a huge favor and trade him back home to SF where he won’t have to play first base. We can use Beaty wherever we used Joc. We’ll give up some homers and gain average and OBP and quite possibly some RBI’s.
Joc for Will (Pitcher) Smith. I vote yes. Of course Farhan will want more than just Joc so I’m willing to throw in Yadier Alvarez and Jeren Kendall. Oops, I forgot, he knows about them.
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For Vazquez, yes, for Smith no. Reason, although Smith has excellent numbers this year, he has very little playoff experience. Vazquez has none, but I like his upside much better and in my eyes he has much better stuff than Smith. Matters not, Joc will not be traded and neither of those guys are coming to LA>
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Yeah, I think I agree with your conclusion Bear. Still fun to speculate.
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Stripling just has a nothing fastball. Like 88 and straight.
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And the Barnes trainwreck just keeps getting worse and worse!
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Yeah Rich, it’s like he forgot what he did when he was good. One good year, age 27. That’s the year of peakage for a lot of players. The curve is usually broader… like 3-4 years on either side… but that may be it for him. What you’ve seen for two years is what it is as he hits 30. Oh well, the pitchers seem to like him and he does have a positive dWAR. Who knows. It’s along season, maybe he’ll put together a few good weeks during the stretch.
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The catching train wreck continues you mean. Martin was ofer last night. Stripling is more a breaking ball pitcher since his TJ surgery. But he still hits 92 on the gun now and then. By the way, this home plate ump tonight is terrible. He called Joc out on strikes in the first, and 5 of those pitches to him were out of the zone, and not by a little. He just called 2 pitches that were balls, strikes on Bellinger. Bring on the electronic K zone and some continuity in balls and strikes. Double plays killing the Dodgers tonight.
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Jansen in for the 9th. Bellinger kicked out of the game. The Ump has been calling pitches that were off the plate strikes and Belli finally had enough I guess. Roberts tried to save him, but it did not work.
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I’m not for the electronic strike zone bear, but this clown sure makes it hard to argue against it.
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Normally I would not be either. But, the umpiring behind the plate has gotten so bad. It used to be more consistent. but for an ump with 16 years MLB experience to be that awful is just agonizing to watch. That pitcher threw Pederson 5 straight pitches that were not in the zone and the last 2 he called strikes. Otherwise Joc walks. One other thing that is getting a little more irritating to me is the fact that their strikeouts are going up again, and I see way too many pitches called strike 3 with their bat on their shoulder. That to me is giving up. At least try to foul the damn thing off. Beaty did good for 6 pitches, and took strike 3 on a pitch that was pretty much right down the pipe. Aggravating. They made this 2 game set very hard to watch. And they let Calhoun kill them. No offense to speak of. Not the best in the majors right now, Yankees took over that spot with their win over the Twins. They lost a chance to gain ground on the Giants, who are now tied for second with the D-Backs who beat a really terrible Orioles team. Now both Kike and Stripling are hurt, Kike’s wrist, and Strips neck. May be if Kike is out for a while, we might see them call up Lux. The good news is that it is Ryu, Kersh and Buehler in DC. Then Maeda, ? and Ryu in Colorado. Ryu is terrible there historically.
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Joc and Beatty definitely fill the same roll, haven’t heard either name in any rumors, but if another team is looking for major league talent, as part of a trade, I could see them being asked for. I would rather see Beatty playing first than joc, defensively at least. We know what we have with joc at the plate, even though Beatty has been good offensively, it’s still a pretty small sample too look at.
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Good thing the Angels aren’t in the NL west! I know that .200 is called the Mendoza line. What about the .100 line. Just wanted to be ready when Barnes gets there.
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I’m officially on the e-zone train. I’ve seen enough.
Another unearned run and it cost us. I read about this team having all these defensive runs saved but I just looked and we’re ranked 9th. That ain’t that good, but I wonder if we should even be ranked that high. Not sure I trust that sabermetric stat. Let’s ask Bear what he thinks.
At Washington, who happens to be leading in the WC and 6-4 on a 3 game win streak. Amazingly, we are also 6-4. Feels a lot like 4-6 doesn’t it
Wife and I both have what feels like flu, and it’s raining. Southern California isn’t exactly putting us, or our cats, in the comfort zone.
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Cats adjust easier than humans, and the E-zone is coming. After the season when they evaluate how bad these strike zones have been, they have to think the umps need help. I think a lot of the bad calls are because of where the ump sets up. What I think about the defense is not fit for public consumption. For the last month it has been abysmal.
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Dodgers make their first big move. WHITE from Astros! Huh?
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White is a corner infielder who did pretty well in 17 and 18. Has some pop, but not very good defensively which figures since he is about as big as a small moving van. I guess he is supposed to be a stand in for Taylor until he returns. Only plays 1st and 3rd. Sorry gang, but this is one of AF’s real head scratchers for me. This guy adds nothing. This year he is worse than Kike. He is supposed to be a close to .300 hitter against LHP. He is slashing 225/320/330. He has 3 homers and 21 ribbies in 215 at bats. He is 5’11” 225 pounds. Not exactly a swift horse. SO who goes down so they can activate this clown? My guess is Beaty unless they make some moves before tomorrow like putting Kike, left wrist soreness on the IL, or another trade that we do not know about. I do not like this trade, it makes absolutely no sense.
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By the way he is hitting .162 against LHP this year and over .250 against RH. Stripling is 50-50 to start his next game in Colorado with a stiff neck. Lots of that going around. My guess is long plane flights contribute to the problem. On the plus side, we may have a pretty good 7th inning option right on the team. Sadler has been damn good the last 2 games he has pitched. He has some nasty stuff.
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Oh, I just read that White is strictly a first baseman, now it makes even less sense than it did before.
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Don’t say that bear! We don’t want to encourage AF to low ball us!
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He already has. This guy is a slug.
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Supposedly they got this clown because they are worried about Freese’s knees and his health. He won’t get the number he had in Houston, # 13. And I do not see how he strengthens the team at all. Some morons on twitter think he is a great pick up. I would believe that only if he put up the same numbers he did in 2017.
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He was pretty not too bad last year. This is a typical Friedman high risk move. Who knows, maybe he gets excited about this opportunity.
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He might, I am not excited about this at all.
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No I meant your praise for Sadler! We don’t wantAF thinking we don’t need a stud in the bullpen!
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My bad there Rich. Sorry Scoop. I do not see this guy as an answer to anything. He did not cost them a top prospect and that is about the only good I see here. I see a slow footed big guy who has some power. But I also see another defensive liability in the field. Right now, Muncy and Freese are much better options than this clown. I do not see an upside to this trade. He is a RH bat who is supposed to kill lefty’s…walla, he sure is not doing that this year. You want this guy up against a LH reliever with the game on the line when he is hitting .162 against them THIS YEAR? Sorry, that does not compute, not does it address the real problem with this team, and if he is indeed taking Beaty’s current spot on the roster, I am totally against it.
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Geez Bear, you’re becoming a grump again. Give the guy a week in a Dodger uni before you hang the tag “clown” on him. He’s going to be our right handed hitting Muncy. Check out the baseball register photo, they could be brothers. They were born a couple of months apart, so are the same age. I’m sure none of us was jumping up and down the day we signed Max and look at what he’s turned into. Oh, and one last thing, his uniform number with the Astros? Yup, 13.
Give him a week of neutral and then you can tear into him. After all, the odds that you’re right are very heavily in your favor.
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I revel in my grumpiness, especially when it is warranted. He is a clown. And his thighs are bigger than a battleship. He probably moves like a ruptured turtle. Muncy was a free agent and yes he is one of AF’s FEW really good moves. This one smacks of desperation. I am more concerned about the injury to Strip, and Kike. This guy is no Max Muncy, more a RH version of Reddick. He did not cost much so no big deal there. If he does produce, then I will eat crow as I have a few times, and even this season with the production Muncy has had. I am also concerned with the bad defense over the last month, the rise in the strikeouts. Bad umpiring. I am also concerned with Cody’s bad month. He is hitting .275 over the last month, .245 over the last 15 games, and .174 over the last 7 games. He has struck out 9 times over the last week in 23 at bats. Not good.
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Story today says the Mets are intent on trading Thor. If that is the case and I am Friedman, I am all in going after that guy. Talk about a difference maker. Working with Honey and ironing out the few flaws he has. Him I would trade Ruiz for in a minute. Hell broaden the trade and get Diaz too.
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Gardner for AYankees just went on IL. It seems like they put 2guys each week on IL and still have best record in MLB. Talk about depth. Amazing!
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White is just what AF looks for. He’s another inexpensive blind squirrel. I figure there’s a reason for this. Maybe Freese needs some jacuzzi time.
Edit capability gone again. Oh well. Back to being totally forgettable.
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That seems to be the only logical conclusion, but at the expense of Beaty’s spot? Not in my book. Tulo announced his retirement. Injuries ended a pretty good career, A’s DFA’d Hundley. And in bad news, Scherzer was activated off of the 10day IL just in time to rate a start against the Dodgers. Sanchez going in game 1 vs Ryu, No word on Kershaw’s opponent and Strasburg against Buehler. Bet DC plugs Max into game 2 against CK.
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Beaty’s going to the giants. The voices in my head confirmed it.
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Wood is finally going to pitch for the Reds this season, Scheduled to make his debut on Sunday.
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