The Dodgers are cleaning house
Los Angeles Dodgers fans woke up to some sad news today (depending on how you look at it), as a blockbuster trade between them and the San Diego Padres for Matt Kemp and catcher Tim Federowicz was approved. The Dodgers will receive Yasmani Grandal, pitcher Joe Wieland and prospect Zach Eflin. As part of the deal, L.A. will also send about $32 million to the Padres to help cover the $107 million they owe in Kemp’s salary.
This comes only days after trading second baseman Dee Gordon, pitcher Dan Haren and infielder Miguel Rojas to the Florida Marlins in an 8-person deal between them and the Los Angeles Angels, acquiring All-Star second baseman Howie Kendrick and prospects.
With a surplus of outfielders, the Dodgers can now rely on Yasiel Puig in right field, Carl Crawford in left and either Joc Pederson or Andre Ethier to fight for that center field position.
This is one of many moves Los Angeles have made during these Winter Meetings, already acquiring second baseman Howie Kendrick, infielder Enrique Hernandez, reliever Chris Hatcher, veteran shortstop Jimmy Rollins and prospect Austin Barnes and signed pitcher Brandon McCarthy.
There were a lot of rumors that there was turmoil in the clubhouse to end the season, so a lot of what the Dodgers are trying to do now is eliminate the dysfunction between players, as well as get better on defense and unload some big contracts on the payroll.
Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes had this to say about the past few days in the organization with so many pieces being shifted:
“It’s been very exciting and sleep-deprived. I can’t talk about much of the details, but the objectives were to preserve the top three prospects, win now, get a little more prospect depth, change some components of the roster, but maintain a lot of the strengths of the roster. So, it’s been a balancing act. We’ve still got work to do, but it’s been fun.”
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