3 former Dodgers trade targets LA must avoid at the 2022 trade deadline

CINCINNATI, OHIO - JUNE 05: Luis Castillo #58 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals at Great American Ball Park on June 05, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO - JUNE 05: Luis Castillo #58 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals at Great American Ball Park on June 05, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a position to add talent at the MLB trade deadline. The same team that looked like an unbeatable force before the season began has looked a lot more human than expected.

Los Angeles certainly is not a bad baseball team and panicking about a team in June that has consistently had a winning percentage above .600 is silly. That being said, there are more holes than expected on the roster that Andrew Friedman and Co. will look to address.

Fans may already be eyeballing certain trade targets that have been tied to the Dodgers in the past. However, the trade market is ever-evolving and there are former trade targets that used to make sense for the Boys in Blue that no longer do.

Here are 3 former Dodgers trade targets that the team must avoid at the 2022 trade deadline:

(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

3. Luis Castillo

Talk about topical. The Dodgers just squared off against Luis Castillo, and if it was a tryout for the right-hander, then he did not pass the test. Castillo’s changeup did not baffle the Dodger bats, as the team managed to get four runs across in five innings. Not terrible, but not any better than who the Dodgers already have on the staff.

Adding a pitcher certainly is not a bad idea with Walker Buehler being on the 60-day IL, but the pitching staff is not as massive a need as some fans may think. Tyler Anderson (who is now officially underpaid) and Tony Gonsolin have been fantastic, while Julio Urías has quietly continued to be an All-Star.

Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney have both pitched really well while healthy, and the team is going to get Dustin May back at some point this season. This is not to mention that whatever pitching prospect the team calls up when they need a spot start that will probably throw six scoreless innings.

Castillo would be the worst starting pitching on the Dodgers’ staff with a 3.71 ERA on the season. Yet he is still a big name, so the cost is not going to be cheap.

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

2. Whit Merrifield

Earlier in the 2022 MLB season, Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report came up with three hypothetical trade targets for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The “blockbuster” addition that Reuter pitched was the versatile two-time All-Star, Whit Merrifield.

On paper, a Merrifield trade seems like a real possibility during the deadline. The Kansas City Royals are terrible and are not going anywhere this season and could get more value out of moving Merrifield rather than just keeping him.

Now would be the best time to maximize his value, as he has two more years under contract after this season. He is a relatively cheap contract to acquire, and the Royals can get a contending team to overpay for his services for a World Series push this season.

The Dodgers should not be that contender for multiple reasons. First, while the team could really use some outfield depth and Merrifield would check that box, the two-time All-Star has not been good this season.

Merrifield is hitting .232 with a 69 OPS+. That means that he is 31% below league average as a hitter this season. These woes extend beyond this season as well, as he posted a 92 OPS+ (8% below league average) last season.

It is not like Merrifield is young, either. He is 33 years old, so it very well could be a case of him simply being past his prime. At this point in time, Gavin Lux is a better baseball player. The Dodgers would be foolish to trade legitimate assets for Merrifield.

(Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images) /

1. Frankie Montas

Like Luis Castillo, Frankie Montas is a right-handed pitcher that has been tied to the Dodgers both in previous offseasons and previous trade deadlines. The Oakland Athletics were never really in a position to trade Montas before, though, and now the team definitely is.

After blowing the team up and making it clear that Las Vegas is in the team’s future plans, the A’s have a 23-47 record and are 21 games behind the first-place Houston Astros. They are the worst team in MLB.

That is why it makes sense for Oakland to trade Montas and get a nice prospect return out of him. He does have one more year of arbitration next season, but he is likely going to see a big pay bump in that final year with how he has pitched in Oakland. And, as we all know, the A’s do not like to spend money.

While Montas is a good pitcher who finished sixth in Cy Young voting last season, he is in a similar boat to Luis Castillo. He has good stuff and the Dodgers would maximize him more than the Athletics are, but at the end of the day, the team doesn’t really need to trade premium prospects to get Montas’ arm in the rotation.

The former Dodger (who was traded to Oakland in the Rich Hill trade) has a 3.53 ERA and 105 ERA+ this season. Both of those numbers would be the worst in the current Dodgers’ rotation.

Next. 3 former Dodgers LA should consider trading for. dark

LA is much better off trading any premium talent for backend bullpen help, not Frankie Montas.

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