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The Baltimore Orioles and the Dodgers have reportedly engaged in trade talks revolving their All-Star closer, Zach Britton.
The Dodgers were linked to Britton last season at the July trade deadline but failed to meet the demands of the Orioles to get a deal done. The Dodgers moved on from Britton and acquired two more affordable left-handed relievers in Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani.
The move worked out for Andrew Friedman as Watson and Cingrani played pivotal roles in the Dodgers World Series run. But now, Tony Watson is a free agent, and not much has been reported about the Dodgers’ interest in bringing Watson back.
The Dodgers currently have three left-handers in the bullpen. Tony Cingrani, Adam Liberatore, and Grant Dayton are on the 25-man roster. Of these three, Cingrani is the only pitcher to pitch in the postseason and Grant Dayton is recovering from Tommy John Surgery and could be sidelined until 2019. That marks a need for the Dodgers to add another left-handed reliever to ease the workload on Cingrani who can be very inconsistent in his own right.
Zach Britton is one of the better relievers in the league. Last season, Britton posted a 2.89 ERA in 38 games and converted 15 of his 17 save opportunities. Britton was limited last season due to knee and forearm injuries but he has continued to receive treatment on his knee this off-season and is fully expected back next season. This is the first time in Britton’s career that he’s missed time due to injuries.
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Britton is in his final season of his contract and is due to make just over $11M. Britton is only 29 years-old and is one season removed from having one of the best seasons for a reliever when he converted each of his 47 save opportunities and had an ERA of 0.54. When healthy, Britton is one of the best relievers in the league and could get both lefties and righties out.
A trade that would bring Britton to the Dodgers would solidify the back-end of the rotation with Jansen and Britton. Earlier this year, Jansen talked about how exciting a Jansen-Britton duo would be for the Dodgers bullpen.
If the Dodgers would trade for Britton that would allow them to part ways with Brandon Morrow who is expected to get a two or three-year contract. Brandon Morrow was fantastic for the Dodgers last season but has a worse health track record than Britton.
The issue is that a trade for Britton would not be cheap for the Dodgers to pull off. The reason why a deal didn’t get done before the trade deadline was because the Orioles asking price was extremely high. In July, an Orioles SB Nation blog posted that the front office was looking for the opposing team’s “top, top guy.” For the Dodgers, they mentioned Walker Buehler and Alex Verdugo.
That’s crazy talk.
The Dodgers aren’t giving up either of their top prospects for a reliever coming off of an injury-plagued season that is only under contract for one full season. Britton is good, but not that good.
The Dodgers could include a trade packaged around Yusniel Diaz and or Yadier Alvarez. Both players have promising upside but don’t rank as high for the Dodgers to consider them “untouchable.” If a deal could be framed around either of those prospects than I’d encourage more discussion. If the conversations start with Buehler and Verdugo, the conversation should just stop there.
I like the idea of trading for Britton after a down season because they should be able to get him at an affordable price. Taking a flyer on a player coming off of an injury is always risky but pairing Britton with Jansen would shorten the games for Dave Roberts. The Dodgers already have a deep bullpen, so they can afford to take chances like this. This is the type of move that puts the Dodgers ahead of the competition and solidifies them as the best bullpen in the league once again. Keep a close eye on the Britton rumors.