Dodgers: New York Post Columnist Sees Trade Between LA and Mets as a Possibility
Kiké Hernandez could be shown the door this off-season and it is not because of his performance. He might make too much money in arbitration and because of it, the Dodgers could look to ship him elsewhere to create space for a bigger fish.
MLB Trade Rumors currently predicts Kiké Hernandez to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.5 million. That is not a lot of money to the naked eye, but when examining what his role seems to be in 2020, he seems a bit redundant.
The emergence of top prospect Gavin Lux, the presence of Chris Taylor on the roster, and a potential signing of Anthony Rendon would only murky the waters that are Hernandez’s role with the team going forward.
Hernandez is a valuable player due to his versatility and defense. He had some uncharacteristic troubles with left-handers in 2019, but that should surely correct itself in 2020.
Now, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Hernandez represents a seamless fit for the roster of the New York Mets.
https://t.co/2Z9ISgGce3 Thoughts about #Mets center field beginning with a pipedream with the #RedSox. #Pirates #Dodgers #Rays #Astros #SFGiants
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 7, 2019
Here is specifically what Sherman said regarding the super-utility player:
He’s a jack-of-all-trades, but that includes being a pretty good center fielder. Hernandez is a free agent after 2020. The Dodgers were interested in Edwin Diaz in July and are looking for closer insurance (or more) for Kenley Jansen. Los Angeles runs the kind of organization that feels it can get the talent out of someone such as Diaz. The Mets would not do this straight up because they also feel like they can fix Diaz. But what if, say, a cost controlled starter such as Ross Stripling were added to Hernandez plus the Dodgers agreed to take on Lowrie’s $9 million for 2020 as the price of doing business?
Edwin Diaz
Now, for the fun stuff. Sherman brings up a very interesting name to the table. Edwin Diaz. Diaz was the 2018 Reliever of the Year. In 2019, he was a huge disappointment after coming to the Mets from the Seattle Mariners.
In 2018, Diaz posted an electric 1.96 ERA and struck out 124 batters across 73 1/3 innings. He also picked up a whopping total of 57 saves. In 2019, things went way south. He posted a brutal 5.59 ERA, however, his stuff still maintained its bite with 99 strikeouts in just 58 innings.
The Dodgers were heavily linked to him at the 2019 trade deadline by Andy Martino of SNY Network, among others.
Dodgers still in play for Edwin Diaz, per major league sources.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) July 29, 2019
It would not be a surprise whatsoever to see the Dodgers make a run at home to help shore up their bullpen.
Also, Ross Stripling’s inclusion in the proposed deal is not at all surprising. Stripling seems like an obvious piece to move this off-season, but he could also be more valuable to the Dodgers due to the depth he provides both the rotation and bullpen.
Overall
Do you want Edwin Diaz? In other words, do you think the Dodgers should be the team to try and fix him up?
Pursuing Diaz makes sense, but Sherman’s proposed deal makes no sense for the Dodgers, certainly not taking Lowrie back in the deal. Kiké and Yimi Garcia for Diaz would be fair. The best outcome for Dodgers is to sign Kiké to an extension, and trade Pollock for the best return available
Totally agree with you. Kiki is redundant with Taylor, but he is a valuable trade piece.
Ridiculous to give up that much AND take on $9 in salary. Of course, a NY writer would think it is a “good” trade.
SoCal, if Dodgers did try and deal Pollock as ya suggest, I am OK with it but I would also believe Dodgers would have to pay some of Pollock’s salary in order to get the best return possible.
Any trade and anyway to rid themselves of a bust like Pollock would help the team.
Why would Dodgers trade Hernandez and keep Chris “swung on and missed” Taylor? Lose them both for all I care. Dodgers would knock off about 300 strikeouts a year by losing those two!
I know I’m picking up what your laying down
They had their 1 good year and are not very good anymore. Add whiff Pederson to that too.
The 2020 Dodgers roster needs to be different.
I like the deal! Someone is going to tweak Diaz and have the best reliever in the majors for next to nothing. I want it to be us. As for Lowrie, we wouldn’t be eating half of the 9 million. We would offer him to a third party who would take a flier on him for 4-5 million. I want to buy while they are selling low!
Tis the season! Let the trade speculation continue. It is probably more likely that Dodgers would swing this type of trade than go for a big free agent, but considering they are likely regretting getting Kelly, it would be unlikely they would spend significant “capital” on another possibly on the wane reliever. Still not convinced the Dodgers are self-aware enough to see that “change” is necessary.
Dodger bullpen needs to be different, I rather give up Taylor and Pollock or an extra for Diaz. Kike was the only one doing anything in the postseason. That’s gotta count for something right?
with the lineups in the last few years, there are r/h batters lacking, Fielders, catchers, start pitchers, relief pitchers, managers not doing their jobs. how many games has the bench won? how many games have closers won? how many bad decisions has manager made? how come the drop off of averages after the all star game? how come no averages in playoff games ( 60+ strike outs….eras soaring……excess of home runs given..lack of fundamental baseball skills (errs) and how about brilliant moves of “manager” (loser) tried)…..owners need to take a closer look on how they want their team to go…..NL competitor only or be able to rise to another level and beat AL……and lastly, why players don’t like dodgers…they have money, market and stadium (packed) but seem to have a management problem to keep them away or want to leave
Exactly on your last part of your last sentence here, and it has to do with how Roberts ‘manages’ the club.
Diaz like some suggesting Pomeranz is not a bad idea however while Diaz is 25 and has good frame at 6″3″ he is a right handed pitcher. The Dodgers have Baez who has continued to improve with his pitch mix and change of pace pitches plus the possibility of having Kelly, Jansen, and possibly May, Gonsolin and others. Also add Maeda to the playoff mix the Dodgers have right handed relievers.
Get a Left Handed closer. Pomeranz not a bad idea as someone suggested recently and I like Will Smith.
Get a rally killer so idiot Mgr Roberts does not get confused on who to use.
Lets get this straight……….Mets want to dump a .260 hitter making 20 MILLION and a relief pitcher with a SIX RUN ERA and the writer of this article thinks the Dodgers should be interested? This story is the Mets and Joel Sherman dreaming of dumping two worthless players for Kike (an all purpose player who hits for power) and Stripling (a very good starter/swing man for their pitching staff)………..are we on drugs here? Why would the Dodgers even entertain this one sided joke of a trade? Friedman is a lot of things but stupid is not one of them.
Exactly & that’s why they write about and don’t play sports. I wouldn’t waste those 2 talents & money and time and effort to get Diaz in shape for next season. It’s just a really bad nightmare & bad financial investment/return.
Our expert pitching coach is now in the Dodgers office.
Kike can play any utility position on the field and is too valuable to trade. Hernandez played played second best right field to Bellinger when Bellinger was at 1st base. He has the speed and excellent golden glove skills. He’s come through in big moments and now there’s only 2 right hand batters since Freeze retired.
crazy to trade kiki ,trade taylor pollack,get what you can get cole ,rendon and or strasberg
about time fo to made some good contracts
……………and 5.5 million dollars IS a lot of money in ANY context!!!!!!
Pollock is about the only player the Dodgers need to move and can really afford to miss having around next season…………AND we have to hope Verdugo’s back problems are a thing of the past.
Kike, because of his can do attitude and his defensive versatility, is invaluable IMO.
Correct, bluz1st. But remember and not everyone would agree but even Freidman has said he was not thrilled with the offense from this too LH heavy lineup he saw in October. And that is an area that should they deal Pollock and or Kiki/Taylor that needs to be addressed and that is an IMPACT RHB, which is why I would attempt to sign Rendon for 3rd base, as JT has already agreed to slide over to 1st if need be.
Tim, you’d also be trading 29 HR’s between Kiki and Taylor, and 116 RBI’s last year, and two guys who can play defense in very key positions (SS,CF, 2B). Lux makes one of them redundant. The only reason we’d trade Kiki is because of his $5.5M likely price tag this year, and his last year before free agency. We aren’t going to take on $9M on a lesser player like Lowrie in order to acquire the flawed (but fixable) Diaz. He’s smoking something!
Dodgers haven’t won WS with those two on roster last three years. Time for dramatic change! Dodgers can find good gloves anywhere. In this day and age you can find a couple of guys that can hit 29 MLB homers between them in the independent league! They’re both good “clubhouse guys” but so what? Time to change Dodger culture!
I would like to see a trade with the Mets for Jacob DeGrom. Dodgers send Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin Mays to the Met, DeGrom to the Dodgers. Bring Ryu and Hill back. That’s your 1-2-3 starting pitching for 2020.
No thanks. You keep DeGrom. Buehler will BE DeGrom soon.
This Matt guy is a troll he’s not serious in any of his posts
A b2b cy young for them……..I don’t think so. You keep them…..no one is going to be degrom get a clue
No need for Kiki Pederson Taylor. There are great players on the farm. Practically giving up nothing in Kiki would be worth it for Diaz hoping for a bounce back season. Stripling can’t throw even 93 can he? His slider isn’t that good to be his out pitch let him go too.
Taylor-Pollock and Stripling for Diaz- Lowrie and a mid tier prospect. We flip Lowrie for another mid Tier prospect and eat a little of his salary.
Sounds like something Freidman would do. Another LONGSHOT bargain that needs to be fixed. The only thing needed to cinch the deal would be a contractual obligation requiring Diaz to get hurt and spend at least a month on the IL.
i would not trade hernandez he has a lot of value to the dodgers because he can hit and plays all over the field diaz was awful last season we don’t want to have another joe kelly situation
Diaz is only making half a mil in 2020; the Mets would be fools to trade him without first trying to fix him unless the deal was very slanted in their favor.
How about we give them Kike who will be a star at 2nd or centerfield gold glove and good hitter if he plays for a real good manager.And they give us Degrom.and we will give them pollock Kelly and strippling.
I have read all he suggestions to date and have a different take. If the Dodgers were to pursue any Met it should be Wheeler. Forget Diaz and go after Will Smith. Having to take Lowrie and $9 million is an early turkey that would not still be digestible on Turkey Day
Nr one who needs to go is Pollock. If no one is interested in a trade I would just drop him like they finally did with Crawford a few years ago. There are some promising rookies in Beatty and Rios-both of whom would be an upgrade over Pollock. Keeping both Taylor and Hernandez does seem redundant
Absolute MORON! Buehler, Gonsolin and May? WTF?
Diaz is the exact type of player Fraudman likes. A reclamation project. It’s what the FO does.
Aren’t Will Smith and Wheeler tied to QO’s? If so thats something the current FO wouldn’t do. I like them too but let’s be realistic when we who’s making the decisions.
I sure hope they would be getting the Diaz with the 1.9 ERA and not the one with the 5.5 ERA. Given Friedman’s track record of acquiring Kelly with his 3.8 lifetime Era and Pollock with his record of being injury prone except for 1 season, I am not overwhelmed with confidence in this potential trade. All Friedman had to do was lookup their records at Baseball Reference. I hope to be proven wrong and the Dodgers finally win a World Series in 2020 or 2021 as they also acquire Cole
Tell Diaz to take a hike. There’s much better, proven relievers out there. This is not a clinic to fix mediocre pitchers. If you want to win spend the money to get the real deal.
How this hit my email is a mystery.
Here is my take.
The Mets may have a use for Hernandez in that they need a center fielder as a late inning defensive insert. This is due to the Mets no picking up Juan Legares option. He was due $9 million. Legares became a liability because he couldn’t hit his weight and his defensive skills while still above average, were not enough to make up for his propensity to simply not hit the ball.
I believe the Mets will be looking to offload Lowerie. But the Dodgers , as would any other MLB club be taking a huge financial risk with what is essentially an injury prone aged player who is looking to hang on to his career.
As for Diaz, he’s an enigma. Still has good stuff, but has seemingly forgotten that if a pitch is over the plate any MLB batter is going to hit it.
If the Dodgers pithcing coach can show Diaz that a 92 mph helicopter slider over the plate is not a good pitch, have at it.
Bring LaSorda, and Kirk Gibson back,then go after Jackie Robinson,Sandy Koufax,Don Drysdale,Fernando,Bill Buckner,Davey lopes,Bill Russell,Steve Garvey,Rick Monday, all for what they were earning back then and played for the love of the game.Campanella and let’s see who you all can come up with. Obviously this is for fun.
trade BUEHLAR, CRAZY ,NUTS ,SMOKING DOPE ? ONLY REAL PITCHER THEY HAVE.TRADE HILL POLLICKER & BUSHIE RED,GARCIA, GET COLE,STRASBERG, AND RENDON,. J.T. MISSED A LOT OF PLAYING TIME, DO WE NEED THAT BELLI BEST 1ST BASEMAN THERE, TRADE KAKI WOULD BE CRAZY. FOR GODS SAKE DO NOT GET PLAYERS @ BAD RECORDS AND INJURES,THINK[NG TO FIX THEM. WHY DO YOU THINK TEAMS WANT TO TRADE THEM. DO NOT HAVE A OLD FOLKS HOME.