I know a Dodger fan whose semi serious take is “we didn’t have room for him.” Right now we are an American League team that isn’t a threat for at least another few months. But should we both meet in the World Series and Yordan contributes to the Astros winning a championship, then you’ll start hearing a lot of stuff.
It's not super-outlandish. Obviously they didn't expect him to be this good (we didn't either), but they are a pretty deep and versatile team, and the Astros are making pretty clear they don't feel comfortable with him either at LF or 1B, so the Dodgers would have been struggling to find a place for him. It's not like they have shitty offensive players they could bench to give a bad defensive player a chance. They have a shortstop stuck in AAA right now that has something like a 0.450 average and 1.300 OPS. It's likely Alvarez might still have been stuck in their minor leagues right now too given the lack of places to play him. Of course, they still could have traded this year's Alvarez to an AL team for something more useful than Josh Fields.
Bingo. He never played a game in their system, why'd they sign him if they didn't have a place for him?
It's interesting in that it's sort of a win-win for everyone. He was an asset that other people wanted, cost them nothing to sign, and got them an elite reliever for a WS run. They maybe could have gotten more (who knows how he was valued by teams back then), but they basically got a free reliever for the stretch run of their first world series appearance in 20 years.
Thanks for the insight... The Dodgers are stacked and as we know, you can’t play ‘em all.... I was skeptical after we got him, i figured for sure they found a glaring weakness in his repertoire that they deemed was too much of a liability. I think Josh Fields had squeezed himself off the core bullpen guys here, and was probably on his way out. I’m glad it’s worked so well for the Astros. But that’s how it goes. What did we get for Laureano or JD Davis, not much if anything. I guess it all equals out in the end.
Absolutely. It is a legit reason they were willing to let go of him. But it's a bit tongue in cheek from a fan standpoint as Alvarez continues to make his case as one of the best hitters in baseball.
Yup. Really well run organizations like the Dodgers and Astros are ultimately going to have guys around the league performing at a high level that they gave away for very little or even nothing. It's just a price you sometimes have to pay for continually getting top level talent. As long as we keep replenishing the farm and the big league team continues to thrive, it's no big deal.
If by equalling out you mean Astros win 100 games for a third season in a row while other teams get to gloat about that one time they stole J.D. Davis from the Astros, then yes.
I just can’t believe the Dodgers would pay an international prospect 2M, only to flip him for an average at best bullpen guy a month later. The Astros were penalized that year and would not have had the money to sign him, so it makes sense that some sort of handshake agreement was reached, prior to the signing period. I’m glad Luhnow has done the necessary dirty work to build this juggernaut!
Weren't the Astros like two weeks away from being able to sign him outright? If so, wouldn't it be easier to have a handshake agreement with Alvarez? Maybe Luhnow was scared Alvarez would break his hand while Andrew Friedman has dainty hands.
i consider the notion that LA signed Alvarez under false pretense to be ridiculous. Why would they knowingly break the rules to help Houston?!?! On top of all the standard reasons, both teams are firmly in their competitive window so they are competing against each other more fervently than even normal teams are. Obviously hindsight is what it is, but at the time, Alvarez was just a high ceiling bat only player in the DSL. Those are the kind of prospects you trade for a fringe-late-inning arm like Fields.
Good article on it. It sounds like Alvarez was an afterthought for everyone. Dodgers signed him because they had money to waste. Astros got him because Dodgers wouldn't trade them the players they really wanted and one of their scouts kept pushing for him. https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodg...-signings-mistakes-astros-20190706-story.html Some highlights: Luhnow had been haggling with several clubs over the return for Astros reliever Josh Fields, a pitcher teams coveted despite his near 7.00 earned-run average. The Dodgers had already rejected requests for “several players” in return and the two sides stood at “an impasse,” Luhnow said. Then Luhnow recalled a prospect who had entranced one of his scouts that year. So he asked about Alvarez. ... Gonzalez glowed about Alvarez to Astros front office. He visited with the prospect often. Alvarez insisted he wanted to be an Astro. He told Gonzalez he had already picked out an apartment near the team’s new complex in West Palm Beach, Fla. But Houston had eyes elsewhere. The Astros spent nearly $12 million on international amateur signings that year, plus a five-year, $47.5-million deal for Cuban infielder Yuli Gurriel. When they bid on Alvarez, the Astros faced significant penalties for spending beyond the limits of their bonus pool. The potential consequences of meeting Alvarez’s price allowed the Dodgers to make a higher bid at $2 million. ... Alvarez was far from a foolproof prospect. There were concerns about his defensive utility, which can be shielded as a designated hitter in the American League. The scouting consensus was bearish about his ability to drive the baseball. The Dodgers got him almost as an afterthought, Friedman said. “We signed him the day before the period ended,” Friedman said. “And it was more because we were about to be cut out of big-ticket signings. Ironically, the big question in the industry at that time was about the power. Which, I’m not sure how that was the question.” ... As Gonzalez recalled the conversation, he heard from Luhnow and one of his lieutenants, Brandon Taubman: “Who do the Dodgers have that we want?” “Are you kidding me?” Gonzalez said. “Are you kidding me?” Gonzalez stumped for Alvarez once more. Luhnow pocketed the recommendation and contacted the Dodgers.
Thank you for this informed response to my uninformed musing about how we acquired Cuban Ted Williams.
The has been only 4 games so far where he has had more than 1 at bat, and didn't contribute at least a hit, walk, or RBI. That is is amazingly consistent. Even Altuve and Bregman aren't that consistent.
The fact that there was a question on his power is fascinating. I mean, he was a teenager, and he’s probably gotten bigger, but the guy is massive! People have made bets that a player will “grow into” their power on far less...