For the last few years, the Los Angeles Dodgers have boasted one of the best farm systems in all of baseball, turning prospects like Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Julio Urias and Walker Buehler into household names.
Despite graduating those players to the big leagues, they still have one of the best farm systems in the sport, and that was evident at Sunday’s Major League Baseball Futures Game when outfield prospect Yusniel Diaz went deep twice.
As it currently stands, the Dodgers are in the running to acquire Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado before the non-waiver trade deadline. Jon Heyman of Fancred is reporting that as of Tuesday morning, they are in the lead to land the four-time All-Star:
Breaking; The Dodgers appear to be the leading contender for superstar Manny Machado as talks head toward the finish line. The situation is fluid and brewers and phillies may still have an outside chance. Barring turnabout, deal should be done this week. Story comin on @Fancred
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 17, 2018
The reason for that appears to be that they are willing to include Diaz in their package:
Sources: top OF prospect yusniel diaz is indeed in the Dodgers’ Machado offer currently on table
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 17, 2018
Diaz, 21, is having a breakout season with Double-A Tulsa, slashing .314/.428/.477 with six home runs and 30 RBI in 59 games. With the Dodgers already having so many other young, talented players and prospects though, he may be expendable if the Dodgers front office decides they want to go all-in this season.
If Machado is acquired, then Chris Taylor would likely move over from shortstop to second base, while Max Muncy would see a majority of the time at first base and Cody Bellinger would move out to center field. Logan Forsythe could potentially be a part of the trade to help offset salaries.
Machado also said that he would be willing to move back to third base if the team that acquired him asked him to, so that could be a possibility if Justin Turner’s adductor injury is more serious than the team originally thought.
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