https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardcole/2017/03/02/dodgers-make-a-weird-trade/#372a91b23604
MAR 2, 2017 @ 03:00 PM20,089 VIEWS
Dodgers Make A Weird Trade
Howard Cole , CONTRIBUTOR
Out with the old, right? Except, in this case it's out with the new, in with the newer.
Rick Honeycutt and Chase de Jong. Photo by Jon SooHoo courtesy of Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rick Honeycutt and Chase de Jong. Photo by Jon SooHoo courtesy of Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers made a little trade Wednesday, sending minor league starting pither Chase De Jong to Seattle for minor league shortstop Drew Jackson and minor leaguer reliever Aneurys Zabala. And I get it, you're saying "what's this guy having an Aneurys-ism over that trade for?"
I'm not having an aneurysm, actually. I just think it's a weird trade. Not a bad trade, necessarily, but a weird trade. And maybe a bad trade.
In his first season in the Dodgers organization after coming over from Toronto's, De Jong made 26 starts (25 at AA-Tulsa, one at AAA-OKC), going 15-5, with a 2.82 ERA, a 1.034 WHIP and 133 strikeouts in 147 innings. The 147 is significant because it means that De Jong is farther along in his projected workload than are young Dodgers Julio Urias, Brock Stewart and Ross Stripling, to name just three.
Gap InternationalVoice
Don't Stretch In 2016, Take A Leap: Breakthrough Growth Means Moving Beyond Stretch Goals
As Eric Stephen points out, this is the third pitcher-for-infielder trade between Los Angeles and Seattle in the past 14 months. Mariners' GM Jerry Dipoto is certainly happy to have De Jong: "We’ve been working on trying to acquire Chase De Jong since last July, so this was just a culmination of many months of work and staying in tune with what the Dodgers were doing and finally we were able to line up.
"You can’t have much better Double-A season than he had last year, and he just dominated at the minor league levels. He is a four-pitch guy, a premium strike-thrower, kind of like the model we’ve been prone to acquire. A fly ball, strikeouts guy who throws a ton of strikes, commands four pitches.”
My sentiments exactly, or they would've been if I could've put it so aptly.
New Dodger Jackson is a 22-year-old, right-hand hitting shortstop who had an excellent half-season at low-A Everett in 2015 (.358/.432/.447/.879, with 47 steals in 51 attempts) and a lesser full season at high-A Bakersfield in 2016 (.258/.332/.345/.678, with 16 steals in 24 attempts). He'll likely start the season at Rancho Cucamonga.
Zabala, 20, has pitched at three levels in three seasons beginning at age 17, with a 4-13, 4.49, four saves and 81 strikeouts and 65 walks in 102 1/3 innings to show for it.
Jackson has a great arm and runs well and Zabala throws 99 mph, apparently. Honestly, I have no idea if either of these guys, who the Dodgers official blog refers to as "promising prospects" are actually just that, or if this is simply a move to clear space on the 40-man roster, with a trade for a major leaguer about to be consummated.
My initial reaction was surprise because I followed De Jong's progress last season, and I thought he could help the big club in 2017, much like Stewart did last year. I've also bought into the starting pitching depth that Andrew Friedman has talked so much about over the past year, and wonder if this doesn't represent a bit of a contradiction.
Like I said, it's a weird trade and I don't like it. I think the Dodgers could've gotten more
MAR 2, 2017 @ 03:00 PM20,089 VIEWS
Dodgers Make A Weird Trade
Howard Cole , CONTRIBUTOR
Out with the old, right? Except, in this case it's out with the new, in with the newer.
Rick Honeycutt and Chase de Jong. Photo by Jon SooHoo courtesy of Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rick Honeycutt and Chase de Jong. Photo by Jon SooHoo courtesy of Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers made a little trade Wednesday, sending minor league starting pither Chase De Jong to Seattle for minor league shortstop Drew Jackson and minor leaguer reliever Aneurys Zabala. And I get it, you're saying "what's this guy having an Aneurys-ism over that trade for?"
I'm not having an aneurysm, actually. I just think it's a weird trade. Not a bad trade, necessarily, but a weird trade. And maybe a bad trade.
In his first season in the Dodgers organization after coming over from Toronto's, De Jong made 26 starts (25 at AA-Tulsa, one at AAA-OKC), going 15-5, with a 2.82 ERA, a 1.034 WHIP and 133 strikeouts in 147 innings. The 147 is significant because it means that De Jong is farther along in his projected workload than are young Dodgers Julio Urias, Brock Stewart and Ross Stripling, to name just three.
Gap InternationalVoice
Don't Stretch In 2016, Take A Leap: Breakthrough Growth Means Moving Beyond Stretch Goals
As Eric Stephen points out, this is the third pitcher-for-infielder trade between Los Angeles and Seattle in the past 14 months. Mariners' GM Jerry Dipoto is certainly happy to have De Jong: "We’ve been working on trying to acquire Chase De Jong since last July, so this was just a culmination of many months of work and staying in tune with what the Dodgers were doing and finally we were able to line up.
"You can’t have much better Double-A season than he had last year, and he just dominated at the minor league levels. He is a four-pitch guy, a premium strike-thrower, kind of like the model we’ve been prone to acquire. A fly ball, strikeouts guy who throws a ton of strikes, commands four pitches.”
My sentiments exactly, or they would've been if I could've put it so aptly.
New Dodger Jackson is a 22-year-old, right-hand hitting shortstop who had an excellent half-season at low-A Everett in 2015 (.358/.432/.447/.879, with 47 steals in 51 attempts) and a lesser full season at high-A Bakersfield in 2016 (.258/.332/.345/.678, with 16 steals in 24 attempts). He'll likely start the season at Rancho Cucamonga.
Zabala, 20, has pitched at three levels in three seasons beginning at age 17, with a 4-13, 4.49, four saves and 81 strikeouts and 65 walks in 102 1/3 innings to show for it.
Jackson has a great arm and runs well and Zabala throws 99 mph, apparently. Honestly, I have no idea if either of these guys, who the Dodgers official blog refers to as "promising prospects" are actually just that, or if this is simply a move to clear space on the 40-man roster, with a trade for a major leaguer about to be consummated.
My initial reaction was surprise because I followed De Jong's progress last season, and I thought he could help the big club in 2017, much like Stewart did last year. I've also bought into the starting pitching depth that Andrew Friedman has talked so much about over the past year, and wonder if this doesn't represent a bit of a contradiction.
Like I said, it's a weird trade and I don't like it. I think the Dodgers could've gotten more
