Trade Day: Dodgers Go For It

Brian Dozier strode into the Los Angeles Dodgers dugout and was greeted…by the bat boy…Ho hum, another All-Star/MVP candidate/Gold-Glover.

Once he alerted Manager Dave Roberts to his presence, it was all smiles as the team welcomed this year’s Logan Forsythe by getting rid of…Logan Forsythe. Probably a typical case of two good guys needing a change of scenery. Forsythe hit like Jeff Kemp last year, but fielded much better. This year, he never got going. Dozier will wear the No. 6 of Steve Garvey and hope his average rebounds into Garvey-like territory. He’s barely hitting .220 in his sixth year, but he still has power and late-year call-ups have a habit of helping the opposition’s batting averages late in the year. See: Adrian Gonzalez. The Dodgers gave up outfielder/first baseman Luke Raley, who hit .295 at AA this year so that’s somewhat concerning and pitcher Devin Smeltzer, not concerning. Good trade for both sides.

Maybe not so hot for the Dodgers: the trade for career 4-ish ERA reliever John Axford by giving up Corey Coppin, who has done nothing but succeed in AA and AAA. Curious as to why LA would give up a seemingly-rising star. Might have something to do with the pedestrian career walks-and-hits per 9 innings of 1.280. Would love to know when those walks were issued. Axford will likely be used in matchup situations.

Of course, the big trade was five prospects for Orioles hitting machine Manny Machado. He’s been as advertised in the professional hitter department and should start paying dividends as other players see how he grinds out at-bats. No give up for Manny. No give up for the Dodgers. They’ve made their move. Now let’s see if they can continue the momentum that brought them from fourth to first in the first-half of the year and then sign Machado.

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