Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: A Deal for Felipe Vazquez Held Up By Pittburgh Demands

The Dodgers want Pittsburgh Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez, this is not news. Los Angeles has been linked to the wipeout left-hander for the better part of a month as conversations revolve around Dodger prospects heading back to PITT.

ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney provided an update on the situation, and demands.



Olney says that talks are “bogged down” over Pittsburgh’s insistence that the Dodgers top infield prospect Gavin Lux be included in any deal.

Pirates GM Neal Huntington has spoken often about what he would want in a return for his All-Star closer. He has also come out and said that he has no plans to trade Vazquez.

Felipe Vazquez is, by all measures, the Dodgers top trade target. He checks off a lot of boxes and needs for the 2019 club.

He’s a dominant, left-handed relief arm. He has closing experience with 79 saves since 2017. And he provides a safety net for LA in the even that current closer Kenley Jansen decides to opt out of the final two years of his contract and test free agency as a 32 year old.

Moreover, the 27 year-old Vazquez is under team control through his age 31 season, thanks to a very team friendly contract that includes two team option years valued at $10M each season.

Final thoughts

To get a lot, you have to give a lot at the trade deadline. And with as many as 16 teams within 4 games of a playoff berth, this is every bit of a sellers market. Gavin Lux is a red-hot prospect and everyone is baseball knows it. He’s undoubtedly the most untouchable prospect in the Dodger farm system, but rival GMs would be fools to not ask for him.

The MLB trade deadline is on Wednesday at 1pm PST, 4pm EST.

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

14 Comments

  1. Need to give up prospects because the time is NOW, not 3 years from now. However, no to Lux and Ruiz. Ruiz plus others outside the top 5 prospects.
    Pirates can keep Vasquez and stay in the cellar

    1. Indeed, Lux must stay a Dodger. In fact, they could use him now.

      Let’s hope that Jensen decides to go somewhere else.
      A completely arrogant clown who won’t change as his game fades

    2. Oh we will keep Flip. And we’ve been in the cellar for 25 of the past 28. Baseball is dead in The Burgh Broseph. But peep this money, your slodgers will Choke for THE 3RD YR IN A ROW without flip.

  2. Cant hit, cant score, cant win. Same story every year with a team that values launch angles, upper cutting and home runs over selfless team first baseball. Productive outs, hitting behind runners, hitting away from the shift, sacrificing, all things the Dodgers are unwilling to do.

    1. They were actually doing all of those things for awhile this season but it appears they’ve stopped again. Roberts has to wip them into shape before the playoffs

  3. I agree with Derrick and JR. The dumpster diving has to be throttled back and we need to start playing at least some traditional baseball. Take advantage of what they give you. My $.02

  4. This isn’t going to happen as I’m sure we all knew. Can’t blame them for not wanting to sell the future but at the same time this is the team to go all in for, it would be a huge waste for possibly the best Dodger team in LA history to not win it all. Tough position to be in

      1. Will Smith is here and probaly to stay as the starting catcher. because of thios, if a deal can get done that includes Ruiz but not Lux or May then I say do the deal and include Joc in it.

  5. The Pirates certainly want to make up for that failed deal that brought them Archer last year , as they traded away a lot to get him and the results have not been good at all. However, Lux and May are the only prospects I would not include in ANY deal, and for 1 big reason….Vasquez alone will not bring the Dodgers a WS ring , especially if the offense remains dormant against LHP and if the defense remains sub par.

      1. Jon, that is also true, and perhaps some of his mismanagement decisions are coming from upstairs, IDK. But what I saw yesterday in Denver and the day before in DC, Dodgers have more problems than just BP issues. Joc needs to go, he cannot play 1st, he is not hitting enough at all to warrant this continued experiment…14 game lead or not. Here is something else to consider, and that is Dodgers have no real answer for Freeland , the LHP going for the Rockies tonight.

  6. As a Pirates fan, thank you for not trading for Felipe Vazquez. They don’t call him the Nightmare for nothing. Pitchers like this only come along once in a blue moon. Glad he stays a Pirate. Now if they could just work on that starting pitching lineup.

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