Los Angeles Dodgers: 3-team trade ideas with White Sox for Joc Pederson
By Jason Reed
Trade 2:
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Los Angeles Dodgers receive: Corey Kluber
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Chicago White Sox receive: Joc Pederson
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Cleveland Indians receive: Tony Gonsolin, Edwin Rios, Blake Rutherford, Seby Zavala
This the first of two blockbuster three-team trade ideas as it was hard to come up with anything other than blockbusters that actually made sense and made it worth it for the Los Angeles Dodgers to trade Joc Pederson. In this trade, the Dodgers do not get Francisco Lindor for Cleveland but instead, get Corey Kluber.
The logic behind getting Kluber is clear. Although he had a bad year in 2019, he was still one of the best five pitchers in the back-half of the decade and has a lot to offer, especially pitching in a competitive team that is in the National League.
The floor for Kluber in Dodger blue is probably a 3.30 ERA with a ton of strikeouts. When that is the floor, you know it is a good trade worth making.
The White Sox get Pederson, we all know why they want him, but it is the return that Cleveland is getting that is interesting.
In this trade, there is not top-tier elite prospect. However, they get to free up the money in Kluber (albeit not a lot, but is a lot for a small-market team) and get several prospects to get excited about. There are no elite prospects, but there are no fillers.
The team gets two big-league ready guys from the Dodgers in Tony Gonsolin and Edwin Rios. Gonsolin is a promising young arm but is on the outside looking in with the Dodgers rotation and the same can be said for the slugging Rios in the infield.
The White Sox send former first-round pick and ninth-ranked prospect in their system, Blake Rutherford, and the team’s 29th-ranked prospect, Seby Zavala.
The biggest hurdle would be getting the White Sox to include Rutherford but I do not think it is that wide of a stretch, especially considering the farm system is rich and they have the young talent already on the big-league team. Zavala is expendable as he is the team’s second-best catching prospect and they already have Yasmani Grandal and James McCann.