Dodgers division-by-division trade targets: AL East
Ken Giles, Jonathan Villar, Mychal Givens
While none of these players are at the level of the stars mentioned over the last couple of slides, they all are role players who could add interesting dimensions to the Dodgers.
Ken Giles and Mychal Givens are closers that are likely to be dealt either this offseason or by the July trade deadline. Both throw hard fastballs and have had success in the late-innings. While Givens has little postseason experience, Giles has some with the Astros in 2017, but obviously he struggled in that Series.
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Giles is entering his age 29 season and will be a free agent at the end of the year. Though his $8.4 million salary is a little pricey compared to Givens, that is the going rate for a top-notch reliever in today’s market.
Givens will not be a free agent until the end of the 2021 season. He is projected to make under $3.5 million in arbitration in 2020 and that number is unlikely to increase dramatically for 2021’s arbitration. Givens will be entering his age 30 season in 2020, and while he’s less experienced than Giles, his low cost could allow the Dodgers to add another reliever to a ‘pen that would stress quality depth over highly skilled power pitchers like Giles.
On the position player side, Jonathan Villar is in the last year of his deal with the Baltimore Orioles. 2020 will be his age 29 season, and over the course of 2019, he really did seem to be entering his prime. A second baseman and shortstop, Villar’s speed and consistency are unmatched within the Dodgers active roster.
Last season, Villar, who is projected to make around $10.5 million in arbitration this season, played in all 162 games, with 61 combined extra-base hits and 40 steals. Villar could be the true leadoff hitter the Dodgers lacked in 2019, and his right-handed bat powered 24 home runs last season. While he could be an improvement over some of the other Dodgers infielders, he’d certainly be bumping some Major League caliber players either to the bench or to other teams.
The Orioles are not quite ready for Major League talent in their rebuilding process, but if they saved money and added more than a rental player in return, the deal would certainly be worth it on their end.