Among all the speculation related to the Los Angeles Dodgers and their three-team trade on Wednesday, some clarity was provided as to why the deal was constructed in the manner in which it was.
The Dodgers recently were reported as having interest in former Cincinnati Reds third baseman Todd Frazier.
Frazier was included in Wednesday’s trade, but he went to the Chicago White Sox. The Dodgers instead received second baseman Micah Johnson, pitcher Frankie Montas and outfielder Trayce Thompson.
Cincinnati was sent prospects Brandon Dixon, Jose Peraza and Scott Schebler.
With Justin Turner on the roster and the success he’s had the past two seasons, the Dodgers don’t exactly have a need at third base. However, Frazier is a two-time All-Star and is a talent the Dodgers front office generally would pounce on.
Team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman praised Frazier, while simultaneously speaking highly of Turner, via Jon Weisman of Dodger Insider:
“Todd’s obviously a really good Major League player, really good third baseman,” Friedman said. “We happen to think we’ve got a really good third baseman as well and really like Justin Turner.”
Friedman went on to explain the Dodgers ultimately decided Turner was best suited at third and acquiring Frazier only to have him play a position other than his natural one would’ve been difficult:
“With JT coming off knee surgery, we felt it was in everybody’s best interest to have him locked in at third,” Friedman said. “We actually talked about acquiring Todd and playing him at a different position, but just felt like there was a chance for that to be messy.”
Frazier last played a position other than first or third base in 2013 when he spent two games (one start) in left field. All 155 of his games played last season were at third base.
Since making the team out of Spring Training in 2014, Turner has earned his way to a starting job with the Dodgers. His emergence relegated Juan Uribe to a role off the bench and an eventual trade.
Turner played five games (three starts) at second base last season, and 14 games (12 starts) there in 2014. However, aside from taking into consideration his offseason knee surgery, Turner is defensively superior at the hot corner than up the middle.
Turner is expected to make a full recovery from the operation in time for Spring Training and is poised for a second consecutive season as the Dodgers’ starting third baseman.
