Dodgers: 3 Gavin Lux trades LA should pull off after Trea Turner deal

2. Gavin Lux to the Phillies

The sad truth is Lux hasn’t necessarily earned a starting job anywhere in MLB yet, and anyone who gifts him a gig next offseason will be taking a bit of a risk.

Maybe the Dodgers can get the Phillies to bite on adding Lux as depth instead, considering they’ve had a massive problem with their second line of infielders and they have a starting role that can be captured with a particularly impressive few months.

Didi Gregorius is only signed on to be the Phils’ starting shortstop through 2022, and the first year of his multi-year contract has not gone smoothly. The 31-year-old former defensive wizard has been worth negative WAR (-0.5), and his OPS+ of 82 is well below-average. There’s certainly a chance, if the trend continues, that Gregorius will be on the verge of losing his job midway through next season; at least, it’s far more likely that’ll happen than either Turner and Seager bows out of Los Angeles.

Beyond Gregorius, the Phillies have Ronald Torreyes and Nick Maton holding down backup infield spots, two players Lux would present an upgrade over.

What would it cost to find a match here? Maybe No. 7 prospect Casey Martin (SS) and No. 17 prospect Mauricio Llovera, a righty who recently made his MLB debut (and gave up three homers to the Mets, let’s not discuss) could work. Perhaps the Phils and Dodgers could swap reclamation projects and include former No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak as a supplementary piece? Worth discussing the possibility for sure, though Lux has performed at the big-league level and holds much higher value. The focus would not be on Moniak here, but the conversation makes sense.