As the offseason continues, the Los Angeles Dodgers have already done most of their heavy lifting with the signings of Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, Blake Treinen and Hyeseong Kim.
There’s still some work to be done though. Adding a high-leverage reliever and doing whatever it takes to land Roki Sasaki, as well as re-signing Clayton Kershaw and potentially Kiké Hernández remain among their offseason plans.
In addition, a Gavin Lux trade still seems to be a possibility as rumors continue to surface regarding the second baseman in trade talks. According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, the Seattle Mariners are the latest team to check in on Lux’s availability:
The Mariners have checked with the Dodgers about the availability of Gavin Lux, as we discussed on @MLBNetwork this morning.
The Dodgers have 6 middle infielders on their 40-man roster: Edman, Betts, Lux, Kim, Taylor, Rojas.@Seattle Sports
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 6, 2025
The New York Yankees are also a team that checked in on Lux as they look to fill their infield after the departure of Gleyber Torres, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN:
The Yankees are unquestionably a deeper team — and they’re not done, either. They’ve continued to discuss Luis Arráez with San Diego and inquired about Gavin Lux, whom the Dodgers could trade, to fill their open second-base slot.
Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated reported the Mariners have been more aggressive in their pursuit of Lux thus far. Ragazzo was the first to report the Yankees and Mariners showing interest in acquiring Lux.
Nearly one month ago, DodgerBlue.com reported Lux was involved in trade discussions with the Milwaukee Brewers on a deal centered around Devin Williams. However, the Yankees were able to get a deal done to acquire the reliever by including a middle infield prospect in Caleb Durbin and starting pitcher with Nestor Cortes.
The Dodgers have continued to publicly back Lux as their second baseman with general manager Brandon Gomes saying the plan is still for him to start as recently as Friday, Jan. 3 after the signing of Kim.
However, public comments from the front office can oftentimes be intentionally misleading, or it only takes one team to meet the asking price and change the current plans. The most famous example of this is when former general manager Farhan Zaidi declared Dee Gordon the team’s second baseman just before trading him to the Miami Marlins.
Why a Gavin Lux trade makes sense for Dodgers
The Dodgers are at the point of having a crowded infield with Mookie Betts locked in at shortstop and a reunion with Hernández seemingly likely. In addition to Lux and possibly Hernández, the Dodgers have Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor and Hyeseong Kim as options at second base.
They also have just 13 roster sports for position players available with 11 players who can be considered locks before including Lux, Hernández, Kim and Taylor — leaving two of them as the odd men out.
Of those four, Lux would provide the most value in a trade, and it would not be hard to replace his production.
That would leave Kim and Rojas likely as the platoon option at second base, which could provide similar value to Lux anyways. If Hernández returns, that’s another player in the mix who could help fill in any lost production from Lux being traded.
If the Dodgers were to move Lux, they could add something else to help their MLB roster, such as a reliever, or they could pick up prospects they like, and those could be moved in another deal to add an MLB piece if they wish.
Another factor to consider is just how confident the Dodgers are in Betts at shortstop. If Betts is unable to handle the position well enough, he would need to slide over to second base, pushing Lux out of a job.
In that scenario, Rojas would take over as the primary shortstop with Tommy Edman rotating in while Andy Pages fills in at center field on those days.
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