Cubs/Rocks

The Cubs could pursue Harper, but that would likely entail paying Heyward to play for another team by assuming part of his salary in any move. I don't think there is any way that Heyward opts out of his contract.
 
My guess is Machado to Yankees, Harper to Dodgers.

Who do the Dodgers move in that scenario? Pederson? Puig? I realize Kemp will be off the books, but I doubt they would put Harper in CF and there are only so many ABs to go around with Verdugo also on the doorstep. Bellinger has been playing CF for them, but I'm too lazy to look up his defensive stats. I would be all about Pederson if he is made available.
 
Who do the Dodgers move in that scenario? Pederson? Puig? I realize Kemp will be off the books, but I doubt they would put Harper in CF and there are only so many ABs to go around with Verdugo also on the doorstep. Bellinger has been playing CF for them, but I'm too lazy to look up his defensive stats. I would be all about Pederson if he is made available.

Kemp will still be on the books next year. But they made that trade to get below the luxury tax threshold this year. So the penalties are not as severe when they go back above it next season. I think one of Pederson or Puig would get moved in that scenario. I agree that Pederson is someone the Braves should have on their shopping list this off-season.
 
Kemp will still be on the books next year. But they made that trade to get below the luxury tax threshold this year. So the penalties are not as severe when they go back above it next season. I think one of Pederson or Puig would get moved in that scenario. I agree that Pederson is someone the Braves should have on their shopping list this off-season.

If we could snag Pederson and then find a way to pick up a strong right handed hitting 4th outfielder, that could end up being a wonderful outfield combo. I think I'd still prefer Rosario, but Pederson would likely come much cheaper and we would have him for at least two more seasons. I also think he would get a slight bump playing at Suntrust over Dodger Stadium. The only problem would be finding that 4th outfielder. The free agent class doesn't have a ton of guys that fit that mold. You have Adam Jones, who doesn't really have big splits and I'm skeptical he would be open to a role like that. Maybe a guy like Brandon Guyer? He would be pretty cheap and he had an .804 OPS with a .200+ ISO against lefties this year. He was basically useless against righties, but he would probably be a solid platoon for Pederson. That is the big problem with Pederson. I don't see him being a viable option unless we can find him a platoon partner, but if we can he would be great.
 
There would be a couple of other options too. We could try to grab a guy for a super utility role like Marwin Gonzalez or Eduardo Escobar and use them as our platoon for Pederson. I've been advocating for Escobar for a long time now. He solves a ton of potential issues that might pop up over the course of the season. So yeah, trade for Pederson and sign Escobar. That is a darn good lineup.
 
There would be a couple of other options too. We could try to grab a guy for a super utility role like Marwin Gonzalez or Eduardo Escobar and use them as our platoon for Pederson. I've been advocating for Escobar for a long time now. He solves a ton of potential issues that might pop up over the course of the season. So yeah, trade for Pederson and sign Escobar. That is a darn good lineup.

Another option is to break Austin Riley in as a platoon player and increase his playing time as he earns it. He might not be a suitable outfielder, but we can overcome that by moving Camargo back and forth between infield and outfield. Given that he came up as a shortstop, Camargo is probably a better candidate to play outfield than Riley.

We also have DuVall, who I am not ready to write off.
 
A pederson/duvall platoon actually sounds ok. pederson would still get the majority of the ABs in that scenario too.

Given what the Dodgers have done in recent years and AA's exposure to their approach, I think one of the points of emphasis this offseason is likely to be acquiring a better bench so there is more position sharing and ability to get the platoon advantage. Duvall can be viewed as step 1 of that process. I also think Riley will eventually be phased into the lineup next year. Probably not as a regular but someone who still gets plenty of PT.
 
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