The Los Angeles Dodgers are in need of a shortstop and a solid reliever to join their shaky bullpen. The good news for them is that the tender deadline has made a few names available that might be able to help their lineup.
First thing's first. Shortstop Everth Cabrera was declared a free agent on Wednesday after the San Diego Padres non-tendered him. The Dodgers lost shortstop Hanley Ramirez to the Boston Red Sox and need someone to step in and fill that void. Cabrera, who spent the last six seasons with the Padres in the NL West, would be a fine addition for the Dodgers for a number of reasons: he's familiar with the division, he's a better defender than Ramirez and he can join second baseman Dee Gordon as a huge threat on the base path.
Earlier today ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted, "Connecting dots: Josh Byrnes was the SD GM during a lot of Everth Cabrera's time in SD. Now Byrnes works for LAD, who need a SS." The Dodgers underwent an overhaul of their front office, bringing in president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman from the Tampa Bay Rays. Friedman then hired Farhan Zaidi of the Oakland Athletics to take over as general manager and then added Byrnes as the senior vice president of baseball operations. Byrnes served as the general manager for the Padres from 2011-2014 before he was replaced in June.
With ties to Cabrera and an immediate need at the shortstop position, is this something the Dodgers could seriously consider?
But let's not forget about their bullpen, which ranked 22nd in the MLB in terms of ERA (3.80). They've been looking for a reliever to help improve that aspect of the team, but still need to do some more work. The front office acquired right-handed reliever Joel Peralta from the Rays a couple of weeks ago and now Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles notes they will take a look at Alexi Ogando, who was non-tendered by the Texas Rangers.
Ogando, after an All-Star season in 2011 as a starter, was converted back to a reliever in 2012. After a successful year in the bullpen (2-0 with a 3.27 ERA and 1.00 WHIP), the team moved him back into the starting rotation in 2013 (7-4 with a 3.11 ERA) for 18 starts. He then encountered a disastrous campaign in 2014 (but so did the Rangers as a whole) and went 2-3 with a 6.84 ERA and 1.92 WHIP in 25 innings before he was shut down for the season due to inflammation and ligament "wear and tear" in his throwing elbow.
The Rangers did a lot of toying with Ogando, but if the Dodgers are taking a look at him then it's likely they're going to strictly want him in the bullpen. The right-hander was entering his second year of arbitration eligibility after earning $506,600 in 2013 and $2.625 million in 2014.
