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Dodgers Trade: Why A Minor Move For Latos Is A Major Deal For LA

By Myles Andrews-Duve

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The Los Angeles Dodgers trade adventures left all the right things on the table.

When it was reported earlier this week that the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins had agreed to a deal that would be sending Miami’s Mat Latos and Michael Morse and a few prospects to Los Angeles, many pondered if this could be signaling a follow up deal for a bigger star on the market.

Well, with Price off to Toronto and the deadline now behind us, that question has been answered and the Dodgers’ lack of a high-profile move has garnered rounds of skepticism — both from fans and analysts alike.

Skepticism about what exactly the team’s plan is to fight off those pesky Giants going forward into the Fall.

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But I am here to assure you, it’ll be just fine.

First off, let’s get some clarity.

The Latos deal itself is one of the most complex deadline trades in recent memory, so with that, I will be deferring to Jeff Todd of MLB Trade Rumors to provide the break down:

"The ‘basic’ structure of the deal (though there’s nothing basic about this move) is as follows: the Dodgers will receive right-hander Mat Latos and first baseman Michael Morse from the Marlins.They’ll also add top prospect Jose Peraza and pitchers Alex Wood, Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan from the Braves. Atlanta, in turn, will receive Cuban infielder Hector Olivera, lefty Paco Rodriguez and minor leaguer Zachary Bird from the Dodgers.The Braves are also picking up Miami’s Competitive Balance Round A pick in next year’s draft (No. 35 overall).The Marlins will come out of this deal with three minor league pitchers — Kevin Guzman, Jeff Brigham and Victor Araujo — plus the financial relief of shedding the remaining $14.3MM that is owed to Latos and Morse."

Once the deal was completed the team DFA’d Morse, placed Arroyo on the 60-day DL and now are looking to clear four more roster spots to bring in starters Latos and Wood as well as relievers Johnson and Avilan.

Again, it’s not the glamorous deal that could’ve been for Tigers’ ace David Price, but acquiring Latos and Alex Wood can serve the team well by bolstering their rotation both in the immediate and distant future.

While Latos and the $3.6MM remaining on his contract will be off the books after 2015, Wood’s deal can be retained for four more years beyond the current campaign.

Wood is somewhat of a mixed bag as a pitcher. After a promising first two years in Atlanta, Wood has posted a career-worst ERA of 3.45 in a season where both his velocity and strikeout rate look to have dropped while his “contact rate” has steadily increased.

There is good reason to suggest that his struggles this year are at least partially the result of an inconsistent Braves’ lineup and a bullpen that struggled to protect leads.

Nevertheless, the man is still only 22 years old with a hell of a lot of promise and despite his decline in production the tools for him to be a great pitcher three years down the line are still there.

As for Johnson and Avilan, the two relievers provide Los Angeles some much-needed depth in the bullpen with Johnson standing to be the likeliest contributor of the two.

Prior to his stint in Atlanta, Johnson was one of the better relievers in the AL, leading the league in saves during the 2012-13 campaign.

After a disappointing 2014 season, Johnson has since recovered posting a 2.25 ERA, 6.2K/9, and 60.8 percent ground-ball rate for the current year — all on a team friendly $1.6MM contract.

Oh, and about that Peraza fellow, he’s a steal — literally.

Sitting at No. 30 on MLB.com’s Top 100 prospect list, the 21-year old shortstop/second baseman is batting .295/.319/.380 in the top level of the minors and has made his mark for his speed — 149 stolen bases in 310 contests — and defensive presence in the infield.

Whether he will be a mainstay on the Dodgers’ roster going forward is not entirely definitive — they could include him in a deal in lieu of their favored prospects Corey Seager and Julio Urias.

But for now, he gives the team another young talent in their farm system.

Okay so perhaps the above title is a bit misleading, is Latos alone as good or better than Price in a vacuum?

His current ERA of 4.48 in comparison to Price’s 2.53 would tell you not at all.

But what makes this lower-level deal so much more fulfilling for the Dodgers is that in the midst of acquiring a solid No. 3 starter in Latos is that the team also added some sorely-needed depth in the bullpen along with the added incentive of bolstering their farm system.

All at the expense of four players who were not a part of the 25-man roster.

The Dodgers have made their fair share of swing-for-the-fence type deals over the years and have subsequently seen them result in little more than regular season success.

In the interest of baseball analogies, let’s think of the potential Price deal as a single-run home run.

The crowd is uplifted, there is a quick reverence as the player makes his rounds, but at the end of the day, it is only one run.

Bottom Line: Los Angeles walks away a happy camper.

Acquiring Latos, Wood, Peraza, Johnson and Avilan may not get fans out of their seats right away, but it can be viewed as that effective double followed by two singles and a Grand Slam that eventually leads to an uproar.

For now, though, Latos serves as a reliable third starter solidifying a talented, yet injury-risked rotation and the rest of the new pieces all provide a level promise that doesn’t usually come with these half-year rentals.

Price alone is great, don’t get me wrong.

But Latos and a few auspicious, long-term pieces should have Farhan Zaidi & Co. sleeping much better after the deadline.

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