FanPost

Trade Target: Chris Taylor?


This isn't my idea, really. From Jeff Sullivan's most recent chat at Fangraphs:

tfw: What would you think of something like Chris Taylor for Francisco Cervelli, Richard Rodriguez, Max Moroff, and Lolo Sanchez? The Dodgers probably don’t _need_ Taylor, and Cervelli fills in at catcher until Smith/Keibert are ready, Rodriguez is a great reliever add, Moroff has similar MiLB numbers to Muncy, and Lolo is a solid young outfield prospect that they seem a bit light on.

Jeff Sullivan: Max Moroff is on the Indians now

Jeff Sullivan: Let’s sub in Erik Gonzalez, I guess

Jeff Sullivan: Don’t think the Pirates would be interested. They want to be competitive in 2019 and they can’t keep getting rid of years of team control, like they did in the Archer move. That’s not how a team like that should operate

This is interesting to me mostly because of Sullivan's perception that the Pirates would say no--as if the Dodgers wouldn't. I would make that trade for the Pirates every day and twice on Sundays. I'd be much more comfortable handing over the catcher's position to Elias Diaz and having Taylor for three years until some more middle infield help comes through than with having Cervelli as a one-year bridge to Diaz and rolling with Kevin Newman and Gonzalez at short. And if somehow a bunch of middle infielders started putting pressure on Taylor, he can play outfield too.

I would go so far as to say that I'd happily substitute Newman for Gonzalez in the proposed package (though I'm not high on Newman). Losing Rodriguez would hurt, but bullpen pieces should be easier to find than 3-4 WAR shortstops.

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