Atlanta Braves trade markets update after Friday’s flurries

Dodgers-Reds Deal

This was the biggest deal of the off-season thus far, involving cash and 7 players at major and minor league levels.

The best line I saw about this deal was that Matt Kemp – with his untradable contract – has now been traded four times… including twice by the same team (Bill Shaikin, LA Times).

Aside from the fact that Cincinnati’s moves feel like those of some fantasy baseball team owner, the Dodgers are playing this brilliantly… but of course having money to burn allow one to do things that most other teams cannot, such as handing Homer Bailey a $25 million check to go away, which is likely to happen as part of this deal.

This move frees up the Dodgers with flexibility to execute a lot of things – and there are a lot of opinions on what they might do next.

• There are thoughts they go after Corey Kluber now… despite already having 6 viable starters in their rotation.  Still, Kluber is clearly an upgrade over many of them and spinning off 1 from the bottom shouldn’t be a problem.  Would a couple of outfielders and a starting pitcher be enough?
• Preparation for 2019 spending.  Honestly, this team doesn’t need to do anything more.  They will win their division as configured now.  But of course ‘winning the NL West’ is not their goal:  after 2 consecutive World Series losses, they want it all.  So that means…
• Bryce Harper.  There’s more to say here, but this was the knee-jerk reaction by many:

The new Dodger outfield consists of Joc Pederson (LHH), Cody Bellinger (LHH), and Andrew Toles (LHH), with Alex Verdugo (LHH) either waiting for his turn or waiting to be used for trade bait.

Chris Taylor (RHH) and Toles look like the odd-men out, except that Taylor is the only right-hand hitter of the entire group.

Then there’s Harper… another lefty-hitting outfielder.  Does he fit?  And would his offensive upgrade even be enough to justify his price given what they already have?

Here’s 2 other takes on the situation:

Many are thinking that LA is not buying in to the ’10-12 year contract’ idea that Harper (Scott Boras) wants.  LA is said to prefer something in the 5-8 year range, but if agent Boras clings to the demand for something longer, the Dodgers may very well move on… and there is another target for them.

Oh, and A.J. Pollock is a right-handed hitter.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports added that the luxury tax threshold is in serious danger if LA was to go for Harper as well… in fact, you’d have to calculate the tax on top of a Harper contract when considering to acquire his services.

Any payroll expenditures above $206 million would require LA to pay 20% on the overage.  That could mean another $2-to-$3 million on top of a $30-35 million contract.

Sure, the Dodgers could afford that, but what they will have to decide is which need they need to fill the most:  pitching, outfield, or catching.

Speaking of catching…

So when will the Dodgers take the next step?  Soon, but the big deals could come in January.  Here’s what I think they will do:

• Trade for Kluber… a couple of OFs and a pitcher being the big gets for Cleveland.  Early January for this.
• Sign Pollock… and ignore Harper.  This could happen once Dodger brass is convinced that Harper isn’t going to lower his price.
• Make a deal for a catcher:  that’s either Yasmani Grandal or a lesser free agent… not Realmuto.  This could happen at any time.