DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS thread

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Why Jeter Downs will be flipped in a trade
by Jason Reed | LA Sports Hub — 17 hours ago



Jeter Downs was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the massive trade with the Cincinnati Reds and will likely never don the Dodger blue.

The Los Angeles Dodgers made a massive trade with the Cincinnati Reds that could shake up the rest of the hot stove this winter.

Los Angeles traded three expiring contracts, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and Alex Wood alongside Kyle Farmer and cash considerations. In return, the Dodgers received Homer Bailey, who was promptly waived, and prospects Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray.

Downs, a middle infielder, and Gray, a right-handed pitcher, were both high draft picks and are now the seventh-ranked and 16th-ranked prospects in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system respectively (per MLB Pipeline).

Downs was the 32nd overall pick in 2017 and Gray the 72nd overall pick in 2018 MLB Draft. Both likely won’t be in the big leagues until the 2021 season.

Downs is the more exciting of the two prospects. He was literally named after Derek Jeter and can blossom into one of the best middle infield prospects this season.

Downs is not particularly elite at any one thing; he is not a powerful slugger, he won’t hit .350, he isn’t the fastest in the world and he does not have the range of Brandon Crawford or the arm of Manny Machado.

However, Downs is still a five-tool player. While he is not elite in any one thing, he is a guy that should hover around .300 with 20 or so home runs and fielding that is above MLB average.

Heck, Jon Heyman of Fancred even tweeted that a rival scout stated that Downs is a future all-star.

As exciting as it may be to have Downs in the farm system, chances are that the Dodgers acquired him in order to flip him to acquire Corey Kluber or J.T. Realmuto.

Downs can be a nice piece in a deal for either of those guys or could even be sent to Detroit for Nicholas Castellanos, who can be flipped to the Cleveland Indians for Kluber.

Either way, Downs is going to be traded because of one other man that is in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system: Gavin Lux.



Lux was the Dodgers’ first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. After struggling in his first professional season, Lux excelled in 2018 hitting .324 with a .913 OPS, 15 home runs, 27 doubles and eight triples split between Rancho Cucamonga and Tulsa.

Lux saw his stock in the farm skyrocket as a result as he is now touted as the Dodgers’ fourth-best prospect, the ninth-best shortstop prospect and the 82nd-best prospect overall.

Another good season from Lux in the minor leagues will likely move him into the top 25, if not the top 20. As someone that spent a lot of time watching him in Rancho Cucamonga, I can vouch that he has the skills to be successful at the big league level.

Lux came up as a shortstop but may fit better as a second baseman in the major leagues and is the Dodgers’ long-term solution at second. With Corey Seager manning short, Lux can be the Dodgers starting second baseman as early as 2020, especially if he has another great season in the minor leagues.

While he is another left-handed bat added to a left-handed heavy team, he has the same smooth stroke that Corey Seager has with an approach and patience similar to Max Muncy. He can hit to all fields and has above-average speed and enough baserunning prowess to extend hits.

Lux is closer to the major leagues than Downs and he proved in 2017 that he has what it takes to succeed in professional baseball. Downs, on the other hand, was just decent in his 120 minor league games last season. While it likely is not the case, there is a chance that Downs does not turn out to be what everyone expects.

 

amazing that after [at least] 2+ years they're now "open" to it
racist


Friedman, Roberts open to attacking shifts with bunts
by Matt Borelli | Dodger Blue — 12 minutes ago



By many metrics, the Los Angeles Dodgers were one of the better offensive teams in all of baseball this past season. The club particularly thrived in the power department, slugging a National League-leading and franchise record 235 home runs during the regular season.

Despite enjoying that kind of success, the Dodgers found themselves subject to criticism for relying too heavily on the long ball and not enough on the basics. A major source of this was the club’s reluctance to play small ball and bunt in certain situations.

Such was exposed when opposing teams shifted against the Dodgers, as many players opted not to lay down a bunt and essentially take a free base when an entire side of the infield was left vacated.

With this in mind, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed that one of the biggest priorities next season is to find ways to attack opposing shifts by strategically hitting the ball where the fielders aren’t, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:

“When you see one player on the left side of the infield and you’re down a run, we’re going to challenge our guys to find a way to hit it over there. But you’ve got to do that by practicing. So it’s going to be a priority for us to get better at that.”​

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is also on board with more bunts against opposing shifts:

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for left-handed hitters to bunt more against the shift, which I think would get the opposing defenses to relax their defensive alignment some,” Friedman said. “I think it gets back to the specific hitter – how well they’re able to manipulate the bat, what kind of profile are they? I think there’s a lot of factors that go into it. But I think any time we can take one of our hitters and make them a better hitter without giving away their strengths, I’m all in.”​

Cody Bellinger often receives the shift treatment from opposing teams, so it’ll be interesting to see if he implements bunting as a regular part of his approach next season. The trade off being preventing Bellinger from potentially making an impact with a power swing.

Should more MLB teams experiment with bunting against opposing shifts, it could dramatically change the sport going forward. However, extreme defensive positioning could soon become a thing of the past.

A report surfaced during the Winter Meetings that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is gaining support to limit shifts, which has been a goal of his since taking the helm in 2015.

 

yeah, stumbled across their blog, er site last night
and that was one of the less idiotic articles ...
actually, they were all idiotic

 

happy birthday #32!

 

if trading downs (or anyone else for that matter) makes us better, i'm all for it

 

after kelly, i said get kluber, harper and cervelli and call it a day
but adding kikuchi to the mix would be a huge plus
and convert the guys you mentioned into trade bait
maybe even a guy like urias (who i like) too
interesting

 

meanwhile, in other clayton news...

Blue Jays to acquire Clayton Richard
by Connor Byrne | MLB Trade Rumors — 14 minutes ago



3:55pm: Richard’s going to Toronto, Nicholson-Smith tweets. The Blue Jays will give up minor leaguer outfielder Connor Panas, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The 25-year-old Panas, a Toronto native whom the Blue Jays chose in the ninth round of the 2015 draft, got his first taste of Double-A action last season and hit .232/.296/.359 with nine home runs in 407 plate appearances.

3:35pm: The Blue Jays are close to acquiring left-hander Clayton Richard from the Padres, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports. Richard has been in limbo since the Padres designated him for assignment on Dec. 20.

The 35-year-old Richard has been a useful starter at times since his major league career began with the White Sox in 2008, but he’s now coming off an ugly season. Over 158 2/3 innings and 27 starts in San Diego, Richard pitched to a 5.33 ERA/4.68 FIP with 6.13 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 before undergoing season-ending left knee surgery in late August. On the bright side, Richard posted an excellent groundball rate (56.8 percent), which has been a staple throughout his time in the majors.

Needless to say, Richard – who’s owed a guaranteed $3MM in 2019, the last season of a two-year contract – wouldn’t be a particularly exciting acquisition for Toronto. If healthy, though, he could eat innings for a retooling Blue Jays team which may have multiple questions in its rotation next season. The Jays look to have four-fifths of their rotation set with Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Ryan Borucki and the just-signed Matt Shoemaker in the fold. However, Stroman has frequented trade rumors throughout the offseason, Sanchez battled injury and performance issues from 2017-18, and Shoemaker was neither healthy nor especially effective with the Angels over the previous couple years.

 

more meh...

• The Diamondbacks have acquired left-hander Robby Scott from the Reds for cash, according to an announcement from Cincinnati. The Reds designated Scott for assignment on Dec. 21, ending a brief run with the club that began when it claimed him off waivers from the Red Sox on Dec. 10. The 29-year-old Scott racked up a solid chunk of innings in Boston in 2017, when he totaled 35 2/3 frames and put up a respectable 3.79 ERA with 7.82 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and a 42.6 percent groundball rate. Scott only managed a 5.32 FIP that year, though, and was barely a factor last season for the Red Sox’s World Series-winning club, with whom he threw a mere 6 2/3 innings and allowed six earned runs on 10 hits and five walks (with eight strikeouts).