San Francisco Giants: Building a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers

The biggest priority for the Los Angeles Dodgers will be upgrading the bullpen.

They could definitely use another high-leverage reliever and San Francisco Giants closer Will Smith might be the best reliever available this summer.

I have already touched on the type of package I expect the Giants to receive for Smith in my Twins sell-off series piece. The Dodgers may have the need, but I’m not sure they will be willing to send the top-tier young assets it will take to get a deal done to their biggest rival.

That said, the Giants have enough bullpen assets to help the Dodgers even without trading Smith.

Nick Vincent may have recently played himself out of being a trade chip, but both Tony Watson and Sam Dyson would be welcome additions to the Dodgers’ bullpen.

For what it’s worth, I also think Joe Panik could be an interesting fit to platoon with Kike Hernandez at second base. However, Zaidi seems to like the St. John’s product and I don’t know that the Dodgers would offer enough to make a deal worthwhile.

While Giants fans may not be fond of Bobby Evans tenure as team president, the deal to acquire Dyson from the Texas Rangers in exchange for Hunter Cole in June 2017 stands out as a bright spot.

The 31-year-old has re-established himself as one of the best high-leverage relievers in baseball. He is posting the best strikeouts per nine innings (9.0) and walks per nine innings (1.3) rates of his career while logging a 2.67 ERA with strong peripherals across the board.

If not for Smith’s dominance in the closer role, we might be talking about Dyson as the Giants’ representative at the All-Star Game.

Dyson also has one more year of team control via the arbitration process. That gives the Giants some leverage in trade talks. If they want to wait until the offseason or even next year’s deadline to move him, they can. His value will likely never be higher than it will be this summer, though.

Watson is not on the same level as Dyson in terms of value, but he is still a solid lefty out of the pen who would help any contender. Furthermore, he is also under team control beyond this season with a club option for 2020.

A package of Dyson and Watson could help solidify the Dodgers pen for the next season and a half.

Now let’s figure out the details.

Tony Watson’s contract could present one complication in this potential trade package.

To avoid the luxury tax, Watson has significant escalators built into his contract that could bring his salary for next year close to $10 million.

I have a creative way for the Dodgers to clear some roster space and payroll, while simultaneously setting the Giants up for a better prospect return.

The Dodgers signed free agent Joe Kelly to a three-year, $25 million deal during the offseason to serve as the primary setup man to closer Kenley Jansen.

The early returns have been brutal. In 19 appearances, the hard-throwing Kelly has posted an 8.35 ERA and 1.91 WHIP with 27 hits allowed in 18.1 innings. While his 3.90 xFIP suggests he has endured some bad luck, the Dodgers don’t have time to be patient.

The Giants, on the other hand, have all the time in the world.

Kelly posted a 4.39 ERA and 9.3 K/9 with 21 holds in 73 appearances for the Boston Red Sox last season, before turning in a dominant postseason run. There are worse bounce-back candidates to take a chance on.

With Kelly included, the deal would give the Dodgers a pair of relievers for their run in 2019 and 2020, while also freeing up some payroll in 2021.

The San Francisco Giants motivation will be a better prospect return, which we’ll get into on the next slide.

San Francisco Giants Trade Proposal

To Dodgers: RHP Sam Dyson, LHP Tony Watson
To Giants: RHP Joe Kelly, OF DJ Peters, 1B/3B Cristian Santana, RHP Yadier Alvarez

The Dodgers have a glut of outfielders. The Giants would play a walrus if it could put up a .270/.330/.400 line.

DJ Peters would bring a set of tools that no player in the entire San Francisco organization can match.

The 23-year-old has power on the same level as Chris Shaw, if not better, but he is also a solid center fielder with a plus arm that gives him a prototypical right field profile.

He’s in the middle of his second season at Double-A, and repeating that level is more about the Dodgers ability to be patient with his development than anything else. He posted a solid .793 OPS with 23 doubles and 29 home runs in 2018, so he was by no means overmatched.

The reality is if he had been drafted by the Giants, he would probably already have made his MLB debut. Strikeouts will always be a problem, and he whiffed a staggering 192 times last season, but he has also shown the ability to work a walk and he slugged a combined 56 home runs in 2017 and 2018.

The Dodgers also have a deep pool of corner infield prospects that would improve the Giants system depth. Cristian Santana is holding his own as a 22-year-old at the Double-A level and would be an excellent pickup.

He has great bat speed and a strong arm, but his free-swinging approach will need to be refined in order for him to take the next step.

Matt Beaty and Edwin Rios are similar prospects in the Dodgers system who are already playing at Triple-A, so they should be willing to part with Santana in the right deal.

Finally, after another injury, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Dodgers were ready to move on from Yadier Alvarez.

The 23-year-old received one of the largest signing bonuses in international free agent history back in 2016 when the Dodgers gave him $16 million and paid a matching tax penalty on the basis of incredible stuff.

He still has an electric fastball, a wipeout slider, and a good curveball, but his command remains a major issue and he walked 44 batters in 55.1 innings in 2018.

His upside still leaves plenty to dream on, though, and now that he has slid down the Dodgers prospect rankings a bit, the Giants should target him as a buy-low lottery ticket.

A package of Peters, Santana, and Alvarez would bring the San Francisco Giants a high variable bunch. That group has a lot of loud raw tools, which is exactly what the Giants’ system needs.

The Dodgers aren’t in a place to be particularly patient with prospects and they need bullpen help immediately. Adding a pair of quality veteran relievers while also unloading Joe Kelly’s contract could be enticing enough to get a deal done.

Yes, it’s a bold proposition, but it just might make enough sense for the two rivals to come to terms on a deal for just the second time this century.