Dodgers: Where are they now? Checking in on deadline targets

Felipe Vazquez (stayed put)

Pirates’ record since the deadline: 4-10

Vazquez’s K% since the deadline: 35.7%

In his 4.1 innings pitched in August, “Nightmare” has allowed just 2 hits and no runs with 5 punchouts under his belt, helping whittle his ERA down to a tiny 1.70.

Notably, he has continued to perform despite the stress that comes with your name being in almost every trade report.

But the best part? Vazquez answered questions about the talks going on between the Dodgers and his Pirates while pitching at the “Big A” in Anaheim just a few weeks after the deadline. Here’s what he told the LA Times:

"“I’m sure some people will be upset,” said Felipe Vazquez, the lights-out left-hander the Dodgers were unable to pry from the Pittsburgh Pirates before the July 31 trade deadline. “They’ll be like, ‘I told you we should have gotten Felipe!’ ”"

I for one would still have loved to have acquired Felipe, even if that meant watching Gavin Lux put on a uniform other than that of the Oklahoma City Dodgers, though I understand both that mine was neither the prevailing opinion or even a particularly important opinion in the minds of the wizards in the Dodgers’ front office, so I’ll let this one go quietly.

All I really wanted to point out was that Vazquez, despite the noise, has performed well and has remained amicable with his current club, which speaks to why the Dodgers wanted him so badly.