Los Angeles Dodgers: Three trades to make for Corey Kluber
By Jason Reed
Trade #1:
The first package I would look into making would be Joc Pederson, Tony Gonsolin and D.J. Peters for Kluber. Some fans will naturally reject this trade idea, but let me explain.
Trading Pederson opens the door for Verdugo to be the everyday outfielder in left field while the team still has Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor and Matt Beaty to provide depth behind the starting nine. Not only that, but the Dodgers would only be giving up one year of Pederson, as he is a free agent next offseason.
Gonsolin is a promising pitching piece but like Jose De Leon a few years ago, he is on the outside looking in. Dustin May is the coveted pitching prospect and even right now, without making any sort of trades, Gonsolin likely does not find himself in the rotation and would instead take on the Ross Stripling role.
Peters is a valuable prospect but he is not an elite prospect and gives the Indians an outfielder to build in their system. He is arguably close to being big-league ready but there is just no room on the big-league club.
Kluber did not have a great year last year but has still been one of the best pitchers this decade and a change of scenery into a pitching-first organization like the Dodgers could be the change he needs, similar to Justin Verlander in Houston.
This would give the Dodgers a starting rotation of Walker Buehler, Corey Kluber, Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda and Dustin May/Julio Urias with a starting outfield consisting of Verdugo, A.J. Pollock and Cody Bellinger.