Dodgers: This blockbuster Kris Bryant trade package with Cubs could work

The Dodgers could nab Kris Bryant — and Kyle Hendricks? — with this trade package.

The Los Angeles Dodgers need a third baseman, and the Chicago Cubs seem reticent to trade everything that’s not nailed down.

So…do we have a match?

According to the latest insider chatter, the third base carousel continues to spin in Los Angeles, though the team’s most likely seat-filler remains Justin Turner — at least, that’s what Jon Heyman told us on Monday, though the requisite dollar gap remains.

Just last week, we were told DJ LeMahieu topped the list, and he recently informed his agent that he’d rather re-engage with interested parties than sit and wait for the Yankees to circle back and bid against themselves. So we’re at a bit of a loss in terms of diagnosing the likelihood of each outcome here.

Despite the recent familial kerfuffle, insiders agree LeMahieu is still most likely to be a Yankee after all of this.

And Turner at four years still feels like a different beast to us than Turner at two years. Like, come on. Is anyone giving him that much security if the Dodgers don’t?

That brings us to Kris Bryant, who ironically is probably going to use the extra year of contractual control which the Cubbies fought so hard for prior to his promotion to play in another uniform. KB is currently scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the ’21 season, and would make one hell of a stopgap option for any team (like the Dodgers) that wants to play in the shortstop frenzy of 2021-22.

After all, we’ve still got a Corey Seager to extend, now don’t we?

Despite a few years out of the spotlight, Bryant’s value hasn’t exactly diminished in the same way Yu Darvish’s did — after all, he’s only an arbitration boy, without a hefty contract attached.

This won’t cost Keibert Ruiz, but it won’t necessarily be a complete steal, either. Based on the way the Cubs operated in the Darvish deal, they’re not looking for high-level prospects who can immediately patch holes; they’re far more interested in obtaining projectable pitching.

So what about No. 6 prospect, 18-year-old outfielder Luis Rodriguez, coupled with 20-year-old righty Kendall Williams, the team’s 23rd-ranked prospect?

Of course (flips eyes to “crazy mode”), there is a way we can make this a bit more insane. What if we tried to get the Cubs to appease the Dodgers by adding Kyle Hendricks, the idealized version of a No. 2 starter? The 31-year-old Hendricks is locked down through 2023, with a vesting option for the next season, and he should stylistically age perfectly. After all, he doesn’t miss bats now. Why would it matter if he started doing so as he aged?

In order to plug Hendricks into this newly-formed blockbuster, that would cost the Dodgers the redundant Ruiz, who’s going to struggle to find playing time again this year behind Will Smith. And if a top prospect can’t play for your team, you trade him away to play for someone else’s! That’s how prospects work.

So, what do you think, Dodgers fans? Turner and run it back, or KB/Hendricks for Ruiz and projectability?

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