Dodgers’ Yordan Alvarez trade is one of worst in MLB history

Dodgers’ Yordan Alvarez trade is one of worst in MLB history originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Could you imagine if the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers also had Houston Astros slugging superstar Yordan Alvarez?

It’s not unrealistic, because it’s the Dodgers who signed Alvarez out of Cuba.

They didn’t keep him around long in 2016, though, before trading him to the Astros for relief pitcher Josh Fields. 

That didn’t exactly work out as an even deal.

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MLB.com’s Brian Murphy revisited the trade in a new article on Wednesday, and even without breaking it down, it’s a crazy 1-for-1 in retrospect: Josh Fields for Yordan Alvarez.

Yeah, the Astros won the trade.

“Although (Fields) had been a durable middle reliever for Houston for a few years, a 6.89 ERA through his first 15 appearances of the ’16 season was his ticket to the Minors, and he was still down on the farm when the Dodgers pulled off this one-for-one deal,” Murphy writes. “They gave up a 19-year-old Cuban outfielder whom, just six weeks prior, they had signed to a $2 million deal on the final day of the international signing period.”

When you read that paragraph, it’s even a weird trade in retrospect. Why were the Dodgers trading a guy they had signed for $2 million less than two months earlier for a reliever who had been so bad he was sent to the minor leagues?

It didn’t look too terrible at first, however.

“Fields was actually pretty good for L.A., posting a 2.61 ERA over his three seasons with the club and making an appearance in the 2017 World Series against the Astros,” Murphy writes. “But the Dodgers effectively ended his Major League career when they released him in March 2019.”

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Alvarez debuted just a few months after the Dodgers released Fields.

He has been one of MLB’s best hitters pretty much his whole career.

“This season might be the three-time All-Star’s masterpiece as he currently leads the American League in most offensive categories, including home runs (24), batting average (.328), OPS (1.087) and wRC+ (194),” Murphy writes.

It’s good news for the rest of baseball that the Dodgers didn’t keep Alvarez. If they did, they might be unstoppable.

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