Eventually it will be Archer time

Phil Gurnee ♦ March 14, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

Last summer the Dodgers knew they would need to augment the rotation of Kershaw,Hill, Wood, Maeda, and Ryu for the postsesaon and they turned to Yu Darvish.

This year they will need to do the same. The rotation is solid but not great and it is hard for me to believe they won’t be adding a pitcher this summer.  The name that comes up the most is Chris Archer.

I read an interesting column by Jeff Sullivan over at Fangraphs discussing the Gerrit Cole trade.  Many felt that the Pirates didn’t get a good haul because they didn’t get the best Houston prospects but Jeff points out that Houston is so loaded you can get their second tier prospects and players and still make out very well.

I think the Dodgers are in the same boat. They have a glut of outfielders right now and real space for them. Just like Houston, the Dodgers can’t find a spot for their best positional prospect. Not only is Alex Verdugo blocked in LF, he is blocked by three players. He is blocked in RF by Puig. He is blocked in CF by Taylor who is under team control for years. Puig could walk at the end of next year. Taylor could take over second by 2019.  Verdugo might be better than either Toles or Pederson.

At catcher the Dodgers have a future jewel in Ruiz but some scouts like Will Smith even more.

On the pitching side you can look toward 2019 with Walker Buehler, Mitchell White, Dennis Santana, Yadier Alvarez, and of course Julio Urias.

My point is the Dodgers have plenty of assets to trade for Chris Archer using the same blueprint of a deal that Houston did to acquire Gerrit Cole.

What those assets will be on July 31st will be interesting.

Alex Verdugo or Joc Pederson or Andrew Toles or Yusniel Diaz or DJ Peters

Austin Barnes or Kyle Farmer or Will Smith or Keibert Ruiz

Dennis Santana or Brock Stewart

I don’t know but I do suspect that at some point this summer it will be Archer time in Los Angeles.