Podcast episode 1920: Recapping the Dodgers’ trade deadline

We waited to record the podcast this week until after Wednesday afternoon’s trade deadline, to give us time to process the expected Dodgers’ flurry of moves. What we thought was a team hunting for pitching instead was a team that added just one reliever and three position players in trades over the previous week.

The rough trade deadline summary for the Dodgers:

• Adam Kolarek, Jedd Gyroko, Tyler White, Kristopher Negrón in
• Tony Cingrani, Brock Stewart out (Rocky Gale and Zac Rosscup, both of whom were already off the 40-man roster, were also traded)

That means for the bullpen at least, the Dodgers are betting heavily on their own internal options to fill the gaps. That helps the prospects of pitching in October for rookies Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, both of whom are pitching in the majors this week.

Add in that Will Smith is now the regular catcher going forward, October could have an even more youthful feel for the Dodgers.

Please send any questions for future podcasts to tblapodcast@gmail.com, or tweet us at @ericstephen or @jacobburch.

Dodgers rewind

We look back 30 years to the 1989 trade deadline, when the defending Dodgers acquired Kalvoski Daniels (known as Kal, but it’s fun to say the full name). The trade was roughly two weeks prior to the July 31 non-waiver deadline, but the defending champions traded Tim Leary and Mariano Duncan to the Reds for Lenny Harris and Daniels.

Harris had the bigger Dodgers legacy of the two because he lasted longer and would later set the all-time record for pinch hits. But it was Daniels who was the prize acquisition of the trade. The outfielder with power and a good eye had his best year in 1990, hitting 27 home runs with a 155 OPS+, the latter a mark reached by only eight Dodgers since moving to Los Angeles. Daniels was a solid regular in 1991 as well but bad knees robbed him of a career, and his last game in the majors came shortly after his 29th birthday, after the Dodgers traded him away in 1992.

Daniels’ career 138 OPS+ is tied for 88th in baseball history (minimum 2,500 plate appearances), but his career lasted only 727 games.

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