With the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings getting underway in Las Vegas, the Los Angeles Dodgers are among the teams that are expected to be active this week.
The Dodgers have been linked to a number of possibilities over the last couple weeks, and among them are Cleveland Indians All-Star starters Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer.
Cleveland has made it very public that they are looking to trade one of the two starters, and in return, they are seeking a Major League caliber outfielder, among other things.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently said that the Dodgers have a ‘surplus’ of outfielders, so it seems that the two teams are destined to make a deal.
On the first day of the Winter Meetings, the two clubs may be close to making said deal for Kluber as according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, talks are intensifying:
Sources: Corey Kluber trade talks have intensified. #Dodgers are among the teams involved. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 10, 2018
Kluber is older than Bauer at 32 years of age, but he is under club control for three more seasons as opposed to just two for Bauer, so he may be the more desirable option.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner is coming off another strong season in which he went 20-7 with a 2.89 ERA, 3.12 FIP and 0.99 WHIP with 222 strikeouts and just 34 walks in 215 innings.
Kluber is one of the elite pitchers in baseball, so if the Dodgers add him, they could potentially have the best rotation in all of baseball with Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Rich Hill.
It won’t come at a cheap price though as the Indians may be interested in acquiring Yasiel Puig as a part of their return. It was recently reported that Puig has lost trust in Dodgers management over his lack of playing time in 2018 and is open to being traded, so Los Angeles may feel more inclined to deal him than their other outfielders.
