Machado deal is 3rd big summer deal in a row

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 19, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

For a team that gets criticized for not trading prospects, the Dodgers sure trade a lot of prospects.

In the summer of 2016, they traded three of their top pitching prospects  Jharel Cotton, Frankie Montas, and 2014 first round pick Grant Holmes for Rich Hill and Josh Reddick. Rich Hill at the time was one of the most sought-after pitchers at the deadline in 2016.

In a minor trade at the time, the Dodgers traded Cuban bonus baby Yordan Alvarez to Houston for Josh Fields.

In the summer of 2017, they traded one of the top hitting prospects in baseball Willie Calhoun, infielder Brendan Davis, and a very promising 19-year-old A.J. Alexy for Yu Darvish the most sought-after pitcher at the deadline. You can re-write history and say it was Justin Verlander but it wasn’t. Not at the time the trade was done. What they did after the trade is not relevant to who was considered the better get at the time.

Yesterday the Dodgers traded five prospects for Manny Machado. The centerpiece was Yusniel Diaz and breakout Rancho star Rylan Bannon along with Dean Kremer, Zach Pop, and Breyvic Valera.

They will trade more this summer for more pitching help just as they traded more last summer when they dealt Hendrik Clementina for Cingrani, and  Oneil Cruz for Tony Watson.

Of all the prospects traded over the past three years, it was the minor trade of Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields that will haunt the team as Yordan Alvarez is now a top twenty prospect for Houston.

Heck, it is very possible that the young Oneil Cruz could end up being the top prospect traded in the minor deal for Tony Watson. He’s had a break out season at age 19 in the Sally League.

The Dodgers trade prospects and they trade good prospects, but at the same time, they have mostly kept the right prospects.