While the Los Angeles Dodgers had areas of the roster they wished to upgrade at the non-waiver trade deadline, the team with the best record in baseball lacked glaring needs. Nonetheless, the Dodgers had wish list that included Yu Darvish.
The Texas Rangers began the process of gauging trade interest for their ace 10 days before Monday’s deadline. Over the next few days the Rangers went back and forth on whether or not to trade Darvish. All the while the Dodgers maintained their interest.
With less than 20 minutes to spare, the Dodgers and Rangers reached an agreement on a four-player trade. Los Angeles sent three prospects to Texas, headlined by Willie Calhoun, and received a right-handed ace who solidified their rotation.
Darvish’s talent speaks for itself. He was widely viewed as the best starting pitcher available at this year’s deadline.
While Darvish has pitched to a 5.81 ERA in his last eight starts, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said the club doesn’t have any concerns over the subpar stretch, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“We’ve obviously been watching him very closely,” Zaidi said, sidestepping questions about pitch tipping. “As I mentioned, these conversations have been ongoing for awhile. The quality of the stuff has been there. The velocity, the breaking ball. His health has been good. So we’re not concerned about it at all.”
Darvish’s last start — July 26 against the Miami Marlins — was a clunker. He allowed a career-worst 10 earned runs in just 3.2 innings of work. The outing was followed by a report that the soon-to-be-31-year-old tipped pitches.
Overall this season, the four-time All-Star is 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA, 3.98 FIP and 1.17 WHIP in 22 starts. There’s reason to believe a switch to the National League, coupled with throwing to a strong pitch-framer in Yasmani Grandal, will lend to plenty of success.
Since making his MLB debut in 2012, Darvish leads the American League in opponents’ batting average (.218) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.04), while ranking seventh in ERA (3.42) and strikeouts (960), and 10th in WHIP (1.18).
His presence alleviates the need for Clayton Kershaw to potentially pitch on short rest in the postseason. It also helps the Dodgers in keeping pace with other NL pennant hopefuls, Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals, both of whom made strides to address their respective deficiencies.
Perhaps most impressively, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman embraced an “all-in” approach while retaining Yadier Alvarez, Walker Buehler and Alex Verdugo.
