3 players the Los Angeles Dodgers gave up on too soon

The Dodgers traded away Yordan Alvarez way too soon.

Jeez, this is just an all-time whiff by the Dodgers.

After defecting from Cuba, Alvarez met the Gurriel brothers (Lourdes Jr. and Yuli) and attempted to sign with the Astros. The club was not able to accomodate such a signing, as Yuli had just been brought aboard on a five-year, $47.5M contract.

Instead, Alvarez signed with the Dodgers in June of 2016 for $2M. Just two months later, the Astros circled back around and acquired him in a trade for relief pitcher Josh Fields, who never amounted to much at the big league level. He had a solid career for the Dodgers in parts of three seasons, but his contributions come nowhere close to what Alvarez has been able to accomplish in Houston.

A handful of years later, Alvarez was up in the big leagues with the Astros, laying waste to opposing pitching from the second he put the uniform on. In 2019, he hit 26 doubles and 27 home runs with 78 RBI in just 87 games. His .313 average and 173 OPS+ provided more than enough statistical cushion to earn him the AL Rookie of the Year trophy.

After missing the vast majority of 2020, Alvarez has since returned to the Astros' everyday lineup and continues to be one of the biggest offensive threats in the game. Just last year, he hit 37 home runs with 97 RBI and a 187 OPS+, earning an All-Star Game appearance, Silver Slugger Award and a third-place finish in MVP voting.

The 25-year-old would look so nice in the Dodgers' lineup right now in place of aging veteran J.D. Martinez. There is little doubt Alvarez would've been the face of the Dodgers' lineup at this point, and while we're happy to see him succeed, this one will forever be painful.