Dodgers: Four Dodgers who may find themselves on the trade block

Hyun-Jin Ryu, Starting Pitcher (LHP)

Nothing directly correlated to his performance this season, but I think he makes the most sense out of all the starting pitchers that could be traded. Ryu is only 30-years old and is coming off of three seasons of not throwing a baseball more than ten innings in a season. While, some organizations could see that as a red flag, other could see that as a fresh arm.

We saw the type of pitcher Ryu could be for the Dodgers during his first two rookie seasons.  But those years were long ago and the issue after that has been his inability to stay healthy. Now I think Ryu has a greater chance of being traded by the Dodgers over Brandon McCarthty or Scott Kazmir because he’s younger and his terms of his contract. Ryu has an option due after this season and is only scheduled to be paid a little less than 8M. You add that to the fact that he’s in his early 30’s, it’s way more feasible to create a trade package for Ryu than McCarthy (33) or Kazmir (33) and their collective overpaid contracts.

Ryu provides teams assuming the risk on his health a productive middle of the rotation left-handed pitcher at a respectable price. The Dodgers could bring in a nice return whether it be a bullpen arm that could help with postseason experience or a right-handed bat that could continue to improve their team average against left-handed pitching. The beauty about this trade is that the Dodgers could take Ryu off the books for next season and open up 8M to allocate during the 2018 offseason. I’d hate to see him go, but again it’s another case of supply and demand, the Dodgers certainly have the supply of left-handed starting pitchers and we know there’s a market for left-handed starters.