Call to the pen
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MLB free agency: 2019/2020 FAs that should be moved

By Bill Felber

Yasiel Puig: He'll be a free agent next winter. Could that make him trade bait now? (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Yasiel Puig: He'll be a free agent next winter. Could that make him trade bait now? (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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MLB free agency
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 26: Matt Kemmp #27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on prior to Game Three of the 2018 World Series against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium on October 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Matt Kemp

The Dodgers approach 2019 with a surfeit of talent almost everywhere. That is certainly true in the outfield, where Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Kike Hernandez, and Chris Taylor fought for playing time.

Kemp and Puig will both be free agents following the 2019 season. Both have decent to – in the case of Puig – high market value. Kemp is owed nearly $22 million in 2019, Puig about $9.2 million. See where this is going?

Trade one of them for a controllable asset or two. What kind of asset? Presumably a young outfielder, one you can envision patrolling the Dodger outfield beyond 2019.

Moving Puig makes the most sense, if only because the return on him would be incrementally greater than on Kemp, who combines less production with a far heftier 2019 contract.

Such a move might have the added benefit of improved payroll flexibility allowing the Dodgers to take greater advantage of this winter’s flush free agent market…if that’s the way Los Angeles wants to go.

Yes, the Dodgers might take a short-term offensive hit.  On the other hand, it would allow the restoration of both Pederson and Hernandez to full-time duty. Their 2018 OPS+ were both on a par with Puig or Kemp, so would LA’s run production actually be hampered?

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