Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
On this, the five-year anniversary of Dodgers Digest, we bring you a few of rumors that have cropped up this weekend.
A.J. Pollock, eh? The rumor has been out there for a bit, but this is the most concrete one to date. I gotta say: I’m not impressed. Pollock has a checkered injury past and has yet to replicate his 2015 levels of productions. He missed most of 2016 with a broken elbow and has been slightly above-average the last two seasons. In those two seasons, he has averaged just 463 plate appearances. Extrapolated for 600 plate appearances, he’s currently a 3-win player. That’s good, but not terribly great for a guy who would cost the Dodgers (likely) $15 million-plus per season for at least two years (and probably a third), the No. 31 pick in June’s MLB Draft (because Pollock was given the qualifying offer) and $500,000 in international signing bonus money.
Pollock is a good defender in center field (6 defensive runs saved in 2018, +50 for his career), but Cody Bellinger was really good in center last season (+6) in almost half the number of innings. I’d rather roll with him in center and just sign Bryce Harper (I know, I know, I’m a broken record).
Oh, this is a new one. The Dodgers are apparently talking with the White Sox and Braves about a potential Joc Pederson trade. Pederson has seemed like a likely trade chip this entire offseason, but only now is he being rumored in deals. If he gets moved, it’ll likely be a precursor to or a result of a Pollock signing. And hey, why not a Harper signing while we’re at it?
Josh Harrison? He wasn’t even good when he was good (and I can’t take credit for that). He had a 4.8-win season in 2014 when he had a 137 wRC+, but he has topped 100 wRC+ (league-average) just once (104 in 2017). His contact rate has dipped in three consecutive seasons, so there’s not a ton of upside in a Harrison move. If the Pollock interest is legit, this Harrison rumor makes even less sense since Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor would likely play more infield, which is where Harrison plays. He’s a good defender, but he doesn’t seem like a great fit.
