Damn, I agree with Dylan

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 24, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

Dylan Hernandez has mostly become an annoying columnist following in the vein of TJ Simers since leaving the Dodger beat, but he does make a valid point in this column.

The Dodgers should trade for Yu Darvish if he is available.

I know that getting a relief pitcher like Andrew Miller is all the rage right now but I’ve always been a fan of zigging when everyone else is zagging.

Being a rental who knows what the price would be but right now I’m not married to any particular prospect. Unlike Seager/Urias/Bellinger I could part with any of them and not feel much remorse.

This is the best team the Dodgers have had over their recent run of Western division dominance so getting to October should not be the point of acquiring Darvish, the point of acquiring Darvish would be to advance to the World Series. Darvish is the type of pitcher that would seem to give teams who don’t seem him often particular trouble.

For example, the top seven teams in lowest OPS against are all NL teams. This is all small sample size but you will note in the table below that they aggregate Inter-League which is 15 starts and he’s been great against NL opponents.

He’s also been great against the Houston Astros even though he has faced them fourteen times, and Houston is the odds on favorite to advance for the AL to the World Series.

While a rental, Yu may find that pitching for the Dodgers in Los Angeles in August beats the hell out of pitching in Dallas in August. Plus he’ll find that he loves Los Angeles just as Nomo/Kuroda/Saito did before him.

Of course, I doubt the Rangers trade him, they are after all still in the wild card hunt in the AL.  Just saying if they do trade him, it would behoove the Dodgers to be the team that acquires him.

I                           Split  G   PA  BB  SO SO/W  OPS tOPS+
            Philadelphia Phillies  1   27   2   9 4.50 .422    32
             Washington Nationals  1   31   2  12 6.00 .433    35
               Pittsburgh Pirates  2   44   2  13 6.50 .447    39
                    Miami Marlins  1   32   3  10 3.33 .488    54
                     Chicago Cubs  1   20   4   9 2.25 .488    55
                  Cincinnati Reds  2   55   9  13 1.44 .532    69
             Arizona Diamondbacks  2   56   0       28 .560    70
                   Tampa Bay Rays  6  163  13  52 4.00 .557    72
                     Inter-League 15  400  30 134 4.47 .555    72
               Kansas City Royals  5  135   6  37 6.17 .573    76
                   Houston Astros 14  358  30 118 3.93 .603    86
                Toronto Blue Jays  8  220  20  65 3.25 .608    88
                  Minnesota Twins  3   83   7  25 3.57 .622    92
                 New York Yankees  6  153   7  43 6.14 .648    98
    Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 16  420  45 132 2.93 .643    99
                 San Diego Padres  2   55   3  14 4.67 .657   102
                   Detroit Tigers  7  196  20  47 2.35 .657   102
                      NY Mets      2   49   3  15 5.00 .682   107
                 Seattle Mariners 12  325  34  81 2.38 .667   108
                Cleveland Indians  6  166  19  48 2.53 .704   117
                   Boston Red Sox  4  115   8  39 4.88 .747   129
                Oakland Athletics 16  407  45 110 2.44 .750   131
                Chicago White Sox  3   86   9  26 2.89 .809   149
                Baltimore Orioles  1   24   1   9 9.00 .944   183

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/24/2017.