Dodgers Astros Trade Breakdown

The Dodgers made a buzzer beating deal with the Astros, acquiring another relief pitcher.

Shortly after the Jesse Chavez trade broke, rumors of a mystery trade for a reliever creeped up on Twitter. It was announced an hour after the deadline, but it’s minor.

Josh Fields is a 30 year old reliever from the Astros. He is arbitration-eligible this year and won’t be a free agent until 2019. On the surface, his 6.89 ERA in 15.2 innings looks very bad. But his FIP is 2.81 and he’s struck out 28.2 percent of batters he’s faced while walking 4.2 percent. Those numbers are promising, and his .457 BABIP against suggests he’s been unlucky. He’s also stranded all six of the runners he’s inherited.

Yordan Alvarez heads to Houston. Alvarez was the final international signing the Dodgers made in their last signing period. The 19-year-old first baseman has yet to play since coming over from Cuba. His most recent Cuban stats on baseball reference were from 2014, when Alvarez posted a .351/.402/.387 line in 125 plate appearances.

Baseball America wrote about Alvarez when the Dodgers signed him, and in short said he had potential and good plate coverage, but not a lot of game power and wasn’t very good defensively. Alvarez also worked out in left field at his showcase.

Fields will go to AAA, so this deal likely won’t impact the Dodgers just yet. Fields is on the 40-man roster, so the Dodgers placed Hyun-jin Ryu on the 60-day DL to make room. He won’t be a difference maker, but he serves as minor league depth and if he can find his way, he could be a nice addition to an already-strong bullpen. The cost wasn’t very steep as Alvarez is a huge unknown, so while this trade isn’t the slam dunk that most fans wanted, it’s a positive move.

Next: Dodgers Add Reddick, Hill

That should conclude the trade deadline unless another move comes in way after the fact. The Dodgers got better at the major league level and kept the big guns in the farm system. Trades can still be made, but players involved must go through waivers, and teams can claim a player on waivers to block them. It’s a bit more complicated to trade through this process, but this is how the Dodgers traded for Chase Utley last season and Adrian Gonzalez/Josh Beckett/Carl Crawford/Nick Punto in 2012.