In the weeks and days leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline, the Los Angeles Dodgers were linked to multiple left-handed relievers and starting pitchers. Chief among them were Yu Darvish, Zach Britton, Brad Hand and Sonny Gray.
The Dodgers reportedly had Britton, Darvish and Gray as their top three targets. The Oakland Athletics traded Gray to the New York Yankees, while Britton remained with the Baltimore Orioles in part due to a high asking price.
The Dodgers’ first moves on Monday were to acquire left-handed relievers Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson. In addition to acquiring Cingrani just before the 1 p.m. deadline, the Dodgers completed a blockbuster trade with the Texas Rangers for Darvis, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports:
Source: Darvish to #Dodgers
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2017
According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, the Rangers received a packaged of Willie Calhoun, A.J. Alexy and Brendon Davis:
Source: Dodgers send Calhoun, Alexy and Davis to Rangers for Yu Darvish. Deal done.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 31, 2017
The deal solidified what many expected to be the case. That was in spite of the Rangers reportedly asking for Walker Buehler or Alex Verdugo to be included in a trade.
More recently, the Rangers were said to have accepted that Buehler would not be included in a trade for Darvish, but they were not as high on the Dodgers’ other prospects. Darvish this season is 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA, 3.98 FIP and 1.17 WHIP this season.
Once Clayton Kershaw returns from the disabled list, Darvish gives Los Angeles another one-two duo at the top of the rotation not seen since Zack Greinke signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
