Los Angeles Dodgers: Why signing A.J. Pollock isn’t the answer
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been linked to free agent outfielder A.J. Pollock, a target that would not be the answer to the Dodgers’ needs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers seemed to be setting up for something big. After the team traded three expiring contracts in Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Alex Wood, alongside Kyle Farmer, it appeared as if the team was gearing up for a big acquisition.
After all, the Dodgers didn’t get any big league help out of the trade and simply freed up salary cap space and got some decent prospects. The Dodgers are in no stage to rebuild and with all of those players being expiring anyway, it doesn’t save any money in the long-term.
At first, it appeared as if Bryce Harper coming to LA was a done deal. However, since then, it appears as if that has flown completely out the window; which really should not be a surprise, the Dodgers are not the team to spend big bucks on an incoming free agent.
Even rumblings of Corey Kluber were promising. Those have since died down. The Dodgers added Russell Martin, which was a good move for the price they paid. But again, Martin is the cheap alternative to one year of Yasmani Grandal.
The front office wouldn’t be saving money simply to save money, right? They owe it to their fans to pay for the big players, right? It isn’t unreasonable to expect a billion dollar team to spend money especially if they can stay under the luxury tax.
It appears that the Dodgers have that target to spend money on in A.J. Pollock, who has been linked to the team.
With reports of the team wanting to trade Joc Pederson, it seems as if the front office is making room for both Alex Verdugo and A.J. Pollock to start.
The Pederson trade speculation aside, Pollock is not the answer. Here are the three main reasons why.