Right on the heels of the Enrique Hernandez trade, the Los Angeles Dodgers have made another trade for a veteran utility player, this time for Amed Rosario.
Rosario has mainly played at shortstop, but in the Dodgers official release about the trade, they have listed him at infield/outfield.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the trade is who is going to the Cleveland Guardians in return – none other than Noah Syndergaard, who had spent half of his Dodger career on the injured list.
The transaction appears to be cash neutral, as the Dodgers are sending the difference of the remaining salaries of Syndergaard and Rosario.
While Rosario has not been having his best season, (more on that later), it is notable that President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman convince Cleveland to trade him for Syndergaard. The Guardians are indeed in need of pitching, but this has not been the best season for Thor so far.
Syndergaard has not pitched for the Dodgers since June 7 when he went on the IL with a blister issue. He has made two starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City, neither of which were stellar. The Dodgers were holding onto him to find a suitable trade partner, and they seemingly have found it with the Cleveland Guardians, who have three of their starters currently on the IL also.
For his part, the acquisition of Rosario may also have Dodgers fan scratching their heads. FanGraphs just put out an article about replacement level killers, and Rosario was the featured player for the article.
Still, Rosario and Kiké Hernandez seemingly would be replacements for Yonny Hernandez and Jonny DeLuca off the bench, the latter of whom just went on the 10-day IL.
Of course, we know that the Dodgers are not done making trades. The team is in desperate need of another starter, or two maybe, if the recent outings by Julio Urías, and Tony Gonsolin are any indication. Stay tuned.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Thor for Rosario that’s a good deal. Sure Rosario has been terrible this year. We can hope that both Rosario and Kike can be helped by the coaches and a new environment will give them a lift. So far AF has upgraded the bench and it has more potential for improvement. And got rid of an underperforming Thor. Not Bad
I am always amazed at the interesting under the radar players AF finds. Most have worked out.
Sad that DeLuca is sidelined I think he is a keeper. Outman is on a tear and is up to 250/343 770OPS. It takes experience for these young players to understand how to compete at the MLB level.
Hopefully a couple more potential gems can be found. All the deals do not have to be T Turner and Scherzer after all. And the Dodgers didn’t win the WS with all of that talent.
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I guess in terrible you are referring to his 11 errors at SS. He’s batting.265 compared to his career average of .273. How many Dodgers are hitting.265 or more? I think 3.
Great trade! I have to feel for Thor who really wanted to be in LA and be good for the Dodgers but was just awful.
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I’ll have to go look for the tweet but I think he’s batting .301 against them, not sure if that’s this year or lifetime – I think this year. So yeah you know doc will platoon him it’s their way
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I guess we could see a situation where Rosario is the primary SS with Rojas replacing him late in games with a lead. He’s an upgrade offensively to anybody we have who can play SS except Mookie, but all the others are better defensively at SS than Mookie (yes I know he’s made some great plays there). So with all considered I’m not sure who he would platoon with? Rojas is the only good defender at SS we have. Taylor and Kike are also mediocre.
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I get all your concerns and points. I’m just going off of what the beat writers have been spewing out, and the history of this front office. I agree he probably should be there 3/4 of the time. Someone else mentioned they might use him in the outfield too. I guess we will see
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Just circling back 😜 Amed is playing a few games at SS then transitioning to 2B and CF. So, utility player 😉
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I guess you read that somewhere. Makes no sense to me since he hasn’t played a single inning at 2B professionally and Rojas, Taylor and Hernandez all have much experience there. Even Mookie and Barnes.
Of course if you can play SS you should be able to play 2B, I just question introducing a new position in the middle of a pennant race. He does have CF experience.
I know the Dodgers like to have that flexibility to move guys around even within a game.
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I’m not saying, I agree with it, I’m just saying why I stated it in the article
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The plan is to rotate each player one position to the right for each inning. I’m looking forward to seeing Freddie play second base.
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I would not call Rosario a utility player. He is a starter at SS and should be for LA with Rojas backing him up. In the majors he has played 736 games at SS and seen some time in CF (18 games) and LF (7 games).
Offensively he’s a .273 career hitter who adds speed to the lineup but has a low walk rate. He’s primarily batted second this year. Defensively, I’d say he’s OK but not as good as Rojas. Personally, I’d bat him second and lengthen our lineup. Guess we will find out tomorrow.
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I called him that because he was listed as that by the Dodgers. He’s been terrible defensively there this season, and he seems to excel at batting against lefties so you know he’s going to be platooned.
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With no MLB experience at either 2B or 3B he is certainly less of a utility player than CT3 or Kike or Rojas but I get your point. This year he is hitting.250 against RH pitching which is still better than any other Dodger “utility “ player except Mookie. I guess Mookie is now a utility player since he plays more positions than Rosario.
His defense certainly has been sub par so we will see.
Should see pitching acquisitions soon. Go Dodgers!
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