Cody Snavely
Leading up to the 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline, Los Angeles Dodgers President of Baseball Operation Andrew Friedman and General Manager Brandon Gomes had plenty of retooling for this Dodgers roster for the August to October home stretch.
This past offseason was arguably the best in Dodgers history and Major League Baseball history. The team spent over one billion dollars bringing the two best free agents on the market, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and traded for Tyler Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays.
However, the foundation set over the winter was showing cracks, exacerbated by injuries and inconsistencies in the Dodgers’ starting rotation, bullpen, and bottom of the lineup. This led to a sense of urgency among the fanbase, eagerly anticipating the team’s next moves.
Thankfully, the Dodgers responded to the fanbase’s concerns by making significant trades in the final forty-eight hours of the deadline. These trades brought in five players: Jack Flaherty, Kevin Kiermaier, Amed Rosario, Tommy Edman, and Michael Kopech, who will undoubtedly strengthen the team’s roster.
While these aren’t, in many eyes, the “star” players that so many trade scenarios were based on, such as Luis Robert Jr., Bo Bichette, or Garret Crochet, this group will help the Dodgers greatly in many ways.
The defense has improved immensely
One area that has been a struggle for the Dodgers has been their defense. While as a team, they have 34 DRS (defensive runs saved), which ranks 8th in Major League Baseball, when you look closer, you can see specific areas of concern.
Kicking off with the outfield at face value, the defensive numbers look okay. Currently, in the National League, the Dodgers rank 6th in fielding percentage (.989), 9th in errors (8), 5th in UZR (5.5) but have the 4th worst OAA (-7) and rank 9th in DRS (-7).
Center field has been a huge issue this season, largely due to the demotion of James Outman, who was an above-average glove last year but has been between Triple-A and the Majors all season.
In his absence, the Dodgers have turned to Andy Pages, and it has been interesting. While it is not as bad as the Miguel Vargas experiment in left field, Pages has put together below-average numbers in center.
In seventy games in center field this season, Pages has a positive .990 fielding percentage but a -6 rPM, -8 DRS, -2.6 RngR, -1.6 UZR, and a -1 OAA, and in moments, looks completely lost out there.
Pages, 23, was primarily a corner outfielder throughout his minor league career, spending most of his time in right field. However, the Dodgers needed a clear offensive solution, so they made the hasty decision to put Pages in center field.
Enter Kevin Kiermaier, the thirty-four-year-old outfielder the Dodgers acquired recently for DFA’d lefty Ryan Yarbrough.
The Dodgers have been interested in Kiermaier over the last two offseasons, as the former Tampa Bay Ray has ties to Andrew Friedman. However, with the Dodgers struggling defensively, it makes sense to make the move.
Kiermaier has been one of the best defenders in recent memory, posting a career 161 DRS, 77 UZR, and multiple Gold Glove Awards.
Despite Father Time catching up to Kiermaier, the lefty has put up fantastic numbers, with an OAA of 9, an rPM of 8, 1.7 RngR, and 9 DRS.
While his slash line of .195/.236/.310 is not sexy, he can be a late defensive replacement in a close game, especially in October.
However, Kiermaier isn’t the only web gem player the Dodgers acquired at the deadline; they also acquired utilityman Tommy Edman from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Edman, 29, is a Gold Glove winner. Like Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernández, he has experience playing all over the baseball field, spending most of his career in the middle infield as a second baseman and shortstop.
Offensively, Edman has been, at most, a league-average hitter with a career OPS+ of 99 while hitting .265/.319/.408 with a .726 OPS. However, where Edman truly shines is his above-average defensive play. He ranks in the 96th percentile in OAA (outs above average) during the 2023 regular season.
Edman has also played at least five different positions at least three hundred innings throughout his career.
- 2B (2277 innings) 15 OAA
- 3B (570 innings) 8 OAA
- SS (1140 innings) 11 OAA
- CF (316 innings) 4 OAA
- RF (495.2 innings) 3 OAA
As for Edman’s fit on the Dodgers, when he is eventually activated, they are desperate for a utility infielder, specifically at shortstop and third base.
The combination of Kiermaier and Edman’s defensive skills blew away what the Dodgers had in Miguel Vargas and Andy Pages. The Dodgers also acquired Amed Rosario to move around the infield, and his bat will make up for his poor defensive play throughout his career.
The starting rotation has another dependable arm
It is no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers were desperate for rotation arms this deadline, which explains their involvement in nearly every big arm on the trade market, from Tarik Skubal to Yusei Kikuchi.
The Dodgers saw the injury bug hit their team hard over the course of two months, specifically in the starting rotation, where they lost Tyler Glasnow, Walker Buehler, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to injury.
Despite getting Glasnow back off the injured list last week along with veteran left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers still needed a frontline starting pitcher whether Yamamoto returned or not.
Since June 15th, the Dodgers’ starting rotation has pitched the second-lowest innings in the National League, and their bullpen has paid the price. In that same timeframe, the pen had the fourth-highest ERA, fourth-highest FIP, and fourth-highest innings pitched.
The Dodgers, long rumored to be interested in left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox, pivoted after some disheartening comments made by Crochet’s camp. The camp stated that if traded, the lefty would not pitch in October unless signed to an extension and would also refuse to pitch in the bullpen.
Ultimately, the Dodgers’ strategic decision-making prevailed. They shifted their focus from the long-rumored left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox to a more promising option. The team instead worked with the Detroit Tigers, a rival of the White Sox, to acquire the right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty.
In eighteen starts this season, Flaherty has a 2.95 ERA, 0.965 WHIP, and a 32 K% while also ranking in the 94th percentile in Whiff%, K%, and BB% and the 88th percentile in pitching run value.
Flaherty, 28, will slide nicely into a Dodgers rotation that, when healthy, will consist of Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gavin Stone, and perhaps Walker Buehler or Bobby Miller down the stretch.
Another late-inning flamethrower is a plus
Much like the starting rotation, the Dodgers’ bullpen needed an upgrade. The current pitchers were being overworked and starting to show signs of fatigue.
It is almost a given that every World Series contender will look to upgrade in the bullpen one way or another, and despite the Dodgers knowing that Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Brasier, and Michael Grove should be back in the coming weeks, they still traded for one of the better options on the market.
Despite the high ERA already mentioned, Kopech currently ranks in the 89th percentile in xBA, 99th in Fastball Velocity, 86th in Whiff%, and 92nd in K% with a whopping 30.9 strikeout rate.
With Evan Phillips‘s struggles since he was activated off the 15-day injured list and an overworked crowd of arms, Kopech could be the flame thrower needed for late innings. If the Dodgers can fix his high walk rate, they could potentially just trade for the best relief pitcher on the market.
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