Today I got into it with multiple people on X (Twitter) about the fact that other MLB teams year in and year out get fleeced by the Dodgers’ when it comes to trades.
Don’t get me wrong, obviously back-to-back World Series championships with multiple more on the way, you are doing something right as a franchise. Things like unlimited money, deferred contracts until the year 3000, and swindling teams across the league to make trades with you will do that… and it’s working. So can’t knock them. I simply am posing a question…
The Dodgers’ organization has a long history of having the top rated minor league system across the league, however when you take a deeper dive into it – I never fully understand why?
Granted, we have guys like Will Smith currently on roster who is the real deal, and the likes of Cody Bellinger (MVP) and Corey Seager who came out of the Dodgers farm system, then old timers like Clayton Kershaw (possibly the greatest lefty in history behind Randy Johnson) and various other 2000’s – early 2010’s Dodgers who came up through their ranks. However, in todays game, the Dodgers have a highly rated farm system yearly, yet those players never live up to the hype.
Sure, you can claim Yordan Alvarez who played 0 (zero) games for the Dodgers’ franchise but was signed with them and traded 40ish days later is a “Dodger Prospect”, or that Oneil Cruz who played around 140 games over two seasons for the Low-A affiliate when he was 17-18 years old is again, a “former Dodgers’ prospect”, but be real – neither of them developed within the Dodgers farm.
Currently on their active 40-man roster, they have 15 (13 if you don’t include international signings Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto) who were originally signed by the franchise and brought up through their farm system.
Yesterdays Lineup against the A’s (6/29/26) was as follows:
- DH – Shohei Ohtani (Angels)
- CF – Andy Pages (Home grown)
- 1B – Freddie Freeman (Braves)
- SS – Mookie Betts (Red Sox)
- LF – Kiké Hernández (Marlins)
- RF – Kyle Tucker (Astros)
- 3B – Max Muncy (A’s)
- 2B – Miguel Rojas (Reds)
- C – Dalton Rushing (Home grown)
Two players in their starting lineup came up through their farm system.
It is just odd to me that a team who has so many good prospects yearly, doesn’t ever keep them? Why is that?
Maybe because they aren’t that good and the Dodgers’ hype train continues to rule the media – and the prospects ranking systems.
Some examples of sub-par Dodgers home-grown talent to get traded or move on prior after playing a short period of time for the Dodgers:
- Alex Verdugo, Gavin Lux, Dustin May, Josiah Gray, Keibert Ruiz– All top 5 prospects within the organization and top 100 overall (multiple top 5 overall) combine for a total of 0 season awards and 0 all-star appearances.
- Miguel Vargas and Michael Busch – the two people on Twitter seemed the most obsessed with currently – 0 combined All-star appearances, however both are having All-star esque seasons this year.
- Diego Cartaya, former top prospect and top 5 MLB prospect – has not played above AAA and no longer in the Dodgers organization.
- Jeter Downs, Connor Wong, Yusniel Diaz, Dean Kremer, Rylan Bannon, Breyvic Valera, Zach Pop, Donovan Casey, Gerardo Carrillo – Traded in deals for Manny Machado, Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, and Mookie Betts. I don’t know about you, but I know just about everything about the MLB players those “top” prospects were traded for…and not a thing about the prospects themselves other than they didn’t equal up to what they were traded for.
I know there are other guys who have come and gone from the Dodgers however these are the ones that stand out the most. So why every single year do the Dodgers trade a “top prospect” for one of the best players in the MLB, and then we never hear about those prospects ever again. Why are none of the other front offices questioning whether these Dodger prospects are ever truly worth what they are getting in return?
I’m looking at you Tigers. Don’t trade Tarik Skubal for a package of guys who will never make an all-star team.
Till Next Time,
Trevor
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