With new management comes new philosophy. The Los Angeles Dodgers hired both Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi - two men who worked for MLB teams with some of the lowest payrolls - and now they're looking to rid costly contracts on their new roster. The outfield is where many of those reside.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported on Sunday that the Dodgers are aggressively trying to move Matt Kemp (five years, $107 million remaining), Carl Crawford (three years, $62.25 million remaining) and Andre Ethier (three years, $53.5 million remaining plus a $17.5 million vesting option for 2018). The team said Yasiel Puig is not involved in these trade talks. The goal seems to involve moving two of these outfielders to make room for prospect Joc Pederson, who will play center field, and keep Puig in right field while one of the remaining three outfielders will play left.
According to Rosenthal, the Dodgers are also willing to eat significant portions of these contracts depending on what they would get in return. Ethier perhaps has the lowest trade stock since he's coming off the worst season of his career (.249/.322/.370 with 4 home runs and 42 RBIs), but he's a left-handed hitter which is something a number of teams are interested in. Kemp and Crawford are both coming off solid rebound seasons, but depending on how much of their salaries the Dodgers would be willing to cover, it's hard to believe the two will be fairly easy to trade.
Puig is likely not involved in these talks because the 23-year-old is under a bargain seven-year, $42 million contract and is owed only $6.2 million in 2015, with his annual salary increasing just $1 million in the three subsequent years. Pederson is only 22 years old and was named Rookie of the Year and MVP of the Pacific Coast League this past season. He spent September with the Dodgers and will remain under club control through the 2020 season. These two are obviously the future of the team, to go along with some promising infield prospects they have in the farm system. In order to have their young outfielders develop properly, the Dodgers will need to get rid of the costly ones who are contributing to the logjam.
The General Manager Meetings begin today in Phoenix, Arizona, which is where a lot of trade discussions will take place. It's probable more information will be available as the week goes on concerning the Dodgers' ability to move Kemp, Crawford and/or Ethier.
