The Dodgers weren't finished trading, as they have traded outfielder Matt Kemp to the Padres for Yasmani Grandal and two pitching prospects.
Well, Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi certainly owned Wednesday at the Winter Meetings in San Diego, eh?
After trading for Jimmy Rollins, Andrew Heaney and prospects, he flipped Heaney to the Angels for second baseman Howie Kendrick, signed starter Brandon McCarthy to a 4 year, $48 million deal, and has now finalized the trade of Matt Kemp to the Padres.
The reported deal is Matt Kemp, $30 million and catcher Tim Federowicz to the Padres for catcher Yasmani Grandal, and two pitching prospects Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin.
Kemp's fantasy value takes a bit of a hit moving to the cavernous Petco Park, but i have a feeling he will still have solid fantasy value even in that park. Grandal's value improves a bit as he moves out of Petco and into Dodger Stadium which played as a decent park for home runs in 2014. Last year, Dodger Stadium was the 5th best park for home runs, increasing home runs by 22% according to ESPN Park factors, while Petco Park depressed home runs by about 19%.
I think park factors are impacted by the lineups that play there everyday, meaning the Dodgers had a bunch of power hitters in their lineup last season, so maybe that number comes down a bit in 2015.
The Dodgers have reshaped their lineup after a flurry of moves, and some may think their lineup is worse overall as they are losing Kemp's power and Gordon's speed, but instead you now have a few hitters in Rollins, Kendrick and Grandal who all could hit 12-16 home runs in Dodger Stadium. Here is a quick look at their lineup:
SS - Jimmy Rollins
2B - Howie Kendrick
RF - Yasiel Puig
1B - Adrian Gonzalez
CF - Joc Pederson
LF - Carl Crawford
3B - Juan Uribe
C- Yasmani Grandal
Kendrick's fantasy value doesn't change much, but he is a better second baseman all around than Dee Gordon, and Jimmy Rollins is a solid replacement at shortstop over Red Sox outfielder Hanley Ramirez.
Factor all that along with the Dodgers adding prospects in several of these deals and they now have assets that they can flip for either Cole Hamels, preferable, or Johnny Cueto.