The Los Angeles Dodgers have been run into the ground by owner Frank McCourt and his wife. Its a sad situation and I expect the payroll to be reduced sooner rather than later. The Dodgers are about to hit their bubble with age. See Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Hiroki Kuroda, Ted Lilly, Jamey Carroll. It’s obvious they’re going to have to start thinking about the next few years rather than 2011 as they’re sitting squarely in 4th place, 6.0 games back. Their best trading chip? All Star Center Fielder Matt Kemp.
Kemp is one of the premier center fielders in the game and his .311 average, 13 HR, and 14 SBs carries the offense. He’s won a Gold Glove and leads the league in assists, and the guy is still only 26 – ready to enter the prime years of 27-33. His contract also shows that he could be a prime trade candidate. Matt Kemp has a $6.95 million base salary this year and is eligible for another year’s arbitration. Now is the best time for the Dodgers to trade him as it would generate a very large bounty with a number of teams interested.
Some teams that need CF help: White Sox (Alex Rios is hitting .202 -time to cut the ties? I doubt it), Tigers (Austin Jackson is striking out over 30% of the time but, I doubt the Tigers will be buyers at the deadline and seem committed to Jackson given last year’s success), Rockies (Dexter Fowler’s contributions are measured more fairly on defense but his offensive numbers leave something to be desired. With major monetary commitments to CarGo and Tulo, a trade for Kemp doesn’t make sense), and the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves traded for Nate McLouth a few years back and have been uhm… disappointed. McLouth has hit a combined .231 with 20 home runs and 20 steals in about 750 at bats. The Braves, and Braves fans, are ready to give up on him. Jordan Schafer has been given a chance the past few weeks and has been decent so, depending on his production, this trade could not go through (I’m not too confident in Schafer’s ability long-term). So I’m proposing this trade, given what I know about the Braves center field abilities, the Braves stellar farm system (which has been ranked in the top 3 by basically everybody who knows farm systems), and the Dodgers financial situation, talent level, and outlook.
Braves Get: Matt Kemp and Ramon Tancoso
Dodgers Get: Randall Delgado, Mike Minor, Christian Betancourt and Matt Lipka
Why the Braves Do It: Braves get Matt Kemp. Immediately upgrade their offense to join their stellar pitching staff making them arguably the favorite for the NL Penant
Why the Dodgers Do It: They get a large haul from the Braves including two top pitching prospects. One with a high ceiling, one ready to contribute right away, a catching prospect that can really hit and a leadoff type shortstop a few years away from contributing (the last shortstop like this in the Braves system was Elvis Andrus and he’s pretty good).
The Bottom Line: This trade makes too much sense to happen and I imagine Frank McCourt won’t throw in the towel like this as he is much too prideful. It’s what should happen, though, and these two teams match up very well as possible trade partners.
-Sean Morash
