It’s been no secret for months that the Los Angeles Dodgers have been searching hard for a new starting second baseman, and they finally found their guy on Monday.
The Dodgers have acquired second baseman Logan Forsythe from the Tampa Bay Rays for highly regarded right-handed pitching prospect Jose De Leon:
Today, the #Dodgers acquired infielder Logan Forsythe from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for RHP José De León.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 24, 2017
Forsythe, 30, put together a .264/.333/.444 slash line with 20 homers in 2016 for Tampa Bay. He was valued at 3.4 wins above replacement (WAR) by Baseball Reference and 2.8 wins above replacement by FanGraphs in 2016, after an even better 2015 season (5.0 WAR per Baseball Reference, 4.0 WAR per FanGraphs).
The Dodgers’ struggles vs left-handed pitching last year were well documented, and the right-handed hitting Forsythe carries a very impressive .818 OPS vs southpaws over his career. His power and on-base skills also allow him to fit anywhere in the lineup (he batted leadoff in 125 games for Tampa in 2016). Defensively, he’s about league-average at second base and has the ability to move around the diamond.
Now, while getting Forsythe is a great addition for the Dodgers, it doesn’t come without giving up a very valuable asset as well.
24-year-old right-hander Jose De Leon is widely considered to be one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and put together a terrific 2016 season at Triple-A for the Dodgers (2.61 ERA, 11.57 K/9, 2.08 BB/9 in 86 1/3 IP). Finding young starting pitchers that can miss bats with the command he has is very difficult, and it’s why the Dodgers have been so reluctant to give him up in the past.
But, the Dodgers are a powerhouse team trying to win a championship, and they felt they had one clear hole in their starting lineup at the second base position. This is the kind of move teams in contention make. Additionally, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan says that while DeLeon is so highly regarded, the Dodgers actually like a few of their other young arms more (one is obviously Julio Urias):
Jose DeLeon is really well-regarded among scouts and prospect watchers. Internally, Dodgers think Urias, Alvarez and Buehler are better.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 24, 2017
And the Dodgers have to give up much less than they reportedly would’ve had to for Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier:
#Dodgers viewed #Twins’ ask for Dozier as significantly higher than #Rays’ ask for Forsythe. MIN wanted more than DeLeon.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 24, 2017
dodgers did better to get forsythe for deleon than they would have to trade deleon plus another big prospect for dozier.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 24, 2017
Additionally, Forsythe is terrific value at $14.25 million over two years (an $8.5 million team option in 2018, which the Dodgers will definitely pick up):
Logan Forsythe isn't a Brian Dozier-type value, but two years at $14.25M, in this market, is an enormous value. Why it cost Dodgers DeLeon.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 24, 2017
So, it’s a steep price for the Dodgers to pay, but a necessary price to pay to fill their need. And at a much smaller price than what they would’ve had to pay to get Dozier. They also have the young pitching depth to be able to allow themselves to give up DeLeon and still be in good shape.
And for the rebuilding Rays, they get a very promising young arm — and potential fixture in the rotation — for a player that was unlikely to be a part of the next competitive team in Tampa Bay.
