Each of the last two seasons the Los Angeles Dodgers front office has approached the non-waiver trade deadline with the ‘going for it’ mentality. The result, despite perception, was the organization trading some of their top prospects for impending free agents.
In 2017, they acquired one of the best starting pitchers who was traded before the deadline in Texas Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish. He was great for the Dodgers down the stretch of the season and in the first two rounds of the postseason.
Of course, Darvish infamously stumbled in the World Series, including the decisive Game 7 loss to the Houston Astros. Darvish wound up signing with the Chicago Cubs this past offseason, so he wound up just being a rental.
Then this season, the Dodgers acquired four-time All-Star shortstop Manny Machado from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Yusniel Diaz and four other prospects.
Alex Wood recently compared the two acquisitions, believing that while both moves were notable, Machado will be able to make a bigger impact for Los Angeles, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Definitely, Yu is an incredible pitcher but, for me … Manny is a top-five guy in the game,” Wood said. “He might be top three as far as talent. It doesn’t get much bigger than that, to me.”
The Dodgers front office has taken a lot of criticism over the years for not going after top-tier talent, whether it be Cole Hamels, Chris Sale, Giancarlo Stanton, etc.
They have really stepped up the last couple trade deadlines though, and Machado could be the player that puts them over the hump to win their first World Series since 1988, which Darvish was not able to do a year ago.
If Machado is able to contribute to such, it will be interesting to see if the Dodgers choose to sign him to a long-term deal in the offseason even with Corey Seager expected to return in 2019.
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