3 players the Los Angeles Dodgers gave up on too soon

Fans of every team around Major League Baseball can easily pick out certain players from their team's history that left the organization and took off in another uniform.

The good news is that the Los Angeles Dodgers have a storied history of being on the good side of players breaking out.

I mean, just look at a guy like Justin Turner, who was a weak-hitting utilityman for a handful of clubs before joining the Dodgers and becoming one of the best hitters the team has ever had. Or even Zack Greinke, who won a Cy Young Award in Kansas City, but didn't become one of the best pitchers in the game until he came over to L.A.

Chris Taylor was a utilityman without a job in Seattle before he came over to the Dodgers and won over the hearts of fans thanks to the Swiss Army knife toolset he brings to the table.

You get the point. The Dodgers have historically been good at capitalizing on unrealized talent. As we know, they are far from immune from being on the short end of the stick in situations like this. There are actually quite a few players who the Dodgers gave up on too soon that saw their careers reach new heights once they left the club.

It may be difficult for some, but let's take a step back in time and identify some of the hardest pills to swallow in Dodgers history. Let's rip the Band-Aid off and check out three players the club gave up on too soon.

Oneil Cruz never got enough of a shot in the Dodgers' organization.

Now 24 years old, Cruz has not yet accumulated the trophies, All-Star Game selections, and overall starpower that Yordan Alvarez has, but he's well on his way.

Originally signing with the Dodgers as an international free agent all the way back in 2015, Cruz played just one full season in the system as an 18-year-old, and didn't seem to find his groove at the professional level. In 2017, he played in a total of 105 games and hit just 11 doubles and 10 home runs, with a .237 average and a whopping 132 strikeouts.

Clearly, the organization had seen enough. Right at the trade deadline in 2017, Cruz, along with another minor league pitcher, was flipped to the Pirates in exchange for left-handed reliever Tony Watson. Watson had quietly been one of the more reliable southpaws in the game for the Pirates over a seven-year stretch, so it's no wonder the always-contending Dodgers wanted him to shore up their bullpen.

The issue is Cruz's inclusion in the trade.

In his very first season as a Pirates prospect, the infielder hit 14 home runs with a .286 average and saw nearly all of his offensive numbers go up. He continued to excel in the high minors for the Pirates until he was finally promoted to The Show in October of 2021.

His performance in 2022 had its fair share of ebbs and flows, but Cruz immediately seemed to be the real deal for the rebuilding Pirates. While he doesn't have a clear defensive position (mostly thanks to his massive 6-foot-7 frame not being suited for shortstop), his bat has been solid for the Pirates and he's been a human highlight reel both at the plate and in the field (with his absolute cannon of an arm) in the early goings of his big league career.

Pedro Martínez put together a Hall of Fame career after leaving the Dodgers.

This one is perhaps the toughest pill to swallow for Dodgers fans. Everyone who is a fan of baseball knows the name Pedro Martínez, and many seem to forget that he actually began his storied career as a member of the Dodgers.

After making 67 appearances (predominantly as a reliever) for the club, Martínez was flipped to the Montreal Expos, where he became one of the best players in Montreal's franchise history. He recently was on a Toronto Blue Jays broadcast and mentioned to the announcers, "The Dodgers did not believe in me. They did not believe my body frame was enough to get it done in the big leagues."

Oh, how wrong they were.

After establishing himself as an Expos legend, Martínez went to the Boston Red Sox and got even better. From 1997 to 2003, he had one of the best seven-year stretches of any player in MLB history. In 201 appearances, he had a combined 2.20 ERA and 213 ERA+, meaning he was statistically 113 percent above league-average in that time. He also won three Cy Young Awards in four years and even finished as high as second-place in AL MVP voting in 1999.

To make matters even worse, Delino DeShields, the outfielder acquired in the initial trade from the Dodgers, did not amount to anything for Los Angeles during a three-year tenure. In 370 games, he had a combined 79 OPS+ and was barely above-average on defense either.