These Are Not The Same Dodgers- Part II

The Los Angeles Dodgers really got it cranked up at Baseball's Winter Meetings. After a day of denying that Dee Gordon was even being shopped, the Dodgers traded him, Miguel Rojas, and Dan Haren to the Miami Marlins for their #1 overall prospect Andrew Heaney, reliever Chris Hatcher, Enrique Hernandez, and catching prospect Austin Barnes.

I really do not like this trade for several reasons. The Dodgers gave up an All-Star in Gordon who lead the National League in Triples and Stolen Bases and who is arguably the fastest player in Major League Baseball and a veteran starter in Dan Haren for four unproven players.

Heaney did not stick around long enough to even get a Dodgers jersey as he was traded to the (whatever their name is this week) Angels for Second Baseman Howie Kendrick and I am still not liking the overall balance of this trade. Rojas and Hernandez was a wash as both have about the same amount of major league time in and are both middle infielders, Hatcher 30 years old middle reliever who has pitched in parts of four seasons with the Marlins, appearing in 81 total games, and Barnes who only has 62 at bats at the AA level.

The long rumored Matt Kemp trade finally happened as he was traded to National League West rival San Diego Padres along with Catcher Tim Fedorowicz for Catcher Yasmani Grandal, and pitching prospects Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin. I was not a big fan of this trade either. True the Dodgers had a glut of outfielders and Kemp was the logical choice to be traded (it should have been Ethier but he now has next to no trade value) but he was one of the hottest bats in the National League in the second half of last season. Grandal has always been a prospect since he first signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds but he only has what amounts to a full seasons of experience under his belt.

Once again, Eflin did not stick around long enough to get a jersey as he, along with Dodgers pitching prospect Tom Windle, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for longtime Phillies Shortstop Jimmy Rollins. This is the only trade that made sense unless Eflin or Windle turn into twenty game winners.

The Dodgers also signed Free Agent Right handed starter Brandon McCarthy to slide into Haren's spot in the rotation. This is, without a doubt, the most active the Dodgers have been in the off season in years, if not ever.

These Are Not The Same Dodgers Part I

The new Los Angeles Dodgers President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman, wasted very little time putting his stamp on the Dodgers in the month of December.

It started out with a fairly minor trade of pitcher Matt Magill to the Cincinnati Reds for Outfielder Chris Heisey. Magill had a few major league starts under his belt but was really not in the Dodgers immediate future plans. Chris Heisey was a spot starter in the Outfield for the Reds and a right-handed bat off the bench. The Dodgers have a glut of outfielders so I am curious as to what they will do with Heisey going into Spring Training.

The Dodgers then traded Backup Catcher Drew Butera to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the infamous Player To Be Named Later and Butera was I believe what they refer to as a career backup, a modern day Bob Uecker.

The Dodgers picked up Catcher Rod Lavarnway off Waivers from the Red Sox a few days later then lost Lavarnway to the Chicago Cubs a few days after that and the Cubs lost him to the Baltimore Orioles a few days after that. That is four teams in about two weeks. I wonder what the record is?