Dodgers

Dodgers: Kris Bryant to LA Called Bold Prediction by MLB Writer

This sounds like a broken record at this point, but the Dodgers have not made their big move and have not pounced on the market yet. They were relatively quiet on the free agent market, only inking right-handed reliever Blake Treinen to a one-year, $10 million deal.

While free agents are still available, it appears that the Dodgers will only be in the market to make marginal moves. In the trade market, it seems as if all of the Dodgers’ talks have stalled, namely with the Cleveland Indians.

The Dodgers still have just over $37.5 million in estimated space below the 2020 luxury tax threshold and there is no doubt that they will put it to use. According to a recent column by Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com, that space could be utilized on Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant. Castrovince provided a list of 20 bold predictions for the 2020 season and linked him to Los Angeles.

Here is the direct mention of the Bryant-to-LA link by Castrovince.

It’s not enough that there is public pressure on the Dodgers to do something significant (they did win the National League West by 21 games, after all), but there really does appear to be some internal inclination toward a significant improvement to the roster, and Los Angeles has plenty of young controllable assets to entice a Cubs team hellbent on improving its future financial and talent forecasts.

The Dodgers could certainly use Kris Bryant for some right-handed balance in their lineup. However, the Cubs will likely not trade Bryant until his service time grievance case is resolved. It could mean the difference between one and two years of control for the star third baseman, which in turn changes his trade value.

A deal for Bryant was a topic DodgersNation.com discussed earlier this off-season. Here’s one excerpt from the article.

Much like with a potential Mookie Betts trade, the Dodgers have a surplus of what would make sense for the Cubs in return: young, cost-controlled players who can contribute immediately. Chicago has far too much talent to engage in a full-on rebuild, meaning they need cheap youth to keep the team competitive while saving them money.

Overall, if the Dodgers could acquire Kris Bryant, the off-season could quickly shift from a huge missed opportunity to a big win for president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.

NEXT: Assessing the Dodgers Path to an 8th Consecutive NL West Crown

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