Dodgers Make a Trade for Pirates’ Tony Watson

The MLB trade deadline has come and gone and the Dodgers were relatively quiet this year. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Dodgers traded for left-handed reliever Tony Watson from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tony Watson was not at the top of the list for the Dodgers but the club was able to get a left-handed reliever that they were searching for. Watson was their fallback after not being able to come to a deal for Zach Britton or Brad Hand.

The full details of the deal have yet to be released but all initial reports were that the Orioles were looking for a big haul in exchange for Zach Britton. A big reason why the Orioles were firm on their asking price for Britton was because he’s still under contract for next season.

Britton has proven to be a dominant closer when healthy but this season has only appeared in 19 games. Tony Watson is a decent fall back option to help balance out the bullpen.

Watson is 5-3 with a 3.66 ERA and 10 saves on the year. He’s appeared in 47 games with the Pirates and is a free agent after this season. What’s concerning about Watson is that he not so dominant.

Watson has a modest 6.75 K/9 innings and has a high home run rate at 1.35/9. His splits aren’t as dominant as you would like to see from a lefty at the back of the bullpen. Watson allows left-handed hitters to hit .303 and has only faced 71 hitters from the left side of the plate. He’s by no means a lefty specialist.

Next: Zach Britton Rumors

This wouldn’t be the first time Andrew Friedman made these low under the radar moves so we’ll have to see how this trade pans out.