Los Angeles Dodgers send Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig to Cincinnati Reds in blockbuster deal
By Jason Evans
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds agree on a blockbuster trade with Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp heading to Cincinnati.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds completed their pre Christmas shopping in a big way. The Los Angeles Dodgers send Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer and $7 million for Homer Bailey and two prospects.
Full trade: Kemp, Puig, Wood, Kyle Farmer and $7M to #Reds for Bailey and prospects Josiah Gray and Jeter Downs.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 21, 2018
The Dodgers are expected to release Bailey.
Correction: Bailey owed $28M cash ($23M salary, $5M buyout). Luxury-tax number, based on average annual value of his contract, is $17.5M. https://t.co/s19xtIZ2G2
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 21, 2018
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For The Los Angeles Dodgers, they save about $17.5 under the luxury tax. Considering they already got under the luxury tax and reset their penalty to $0 for going over, this opens up all sorts of possibilities. Sign a big free agent? Make a big trade? Do both? They also add prospects to their farm system. Downs was 7th and Gray was the 20th ranked prospect in the Reds’ organization per MLBPipeline.com
For the Cincinnati Reds, they needed to upgrade their rotation, but weren’t going to spend big money in free agency to do so. They’ve already added Tanner Roark to their rotation, now they’ve added Wood along Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and others. In Kemp and Puig, they may have 2/3rds of their starting outfield for next season. It also reunites Puig with his former hitting coach Turner Ward.
I can’t say I understand this deal for the Reds. Does this make them more competitive in 2019? Yes. However, they are taking on a ton of money and don’t control any of the pieces they received after 2019 except for Farmer, who’s a backup catcher. They also gave up prospects to do so. Even with this trade, they are not better than the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals or Chicago Cubs.
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Both teams believe this trade helps right now, but to me, the Los Angeles Dodgers will win this deal and it’s because of what happens next.