The Dodgers-Braves Trade: Impact on the Dodger's Third Base Situation

The Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves

The Deal: Atlanta Receives: 3B Juan Uribe and RHP Chris Withrow
                Los Angeles Receives: INF Alberto Callaspo, RHP Juan Jaime, LHP Eric Stults, 
                and LHP Ian Thomas

The Assignments: Jaime was sent to Extended Spring Training
                              Stults was designated for assignment
                              Thomas was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Stats: Uribe - .247/.287/.309, 1 HR,  6 Runs, -0.2 rWAR, .981 Fielding%, 2.21 RF/9
                 Withrow - Recovering from Tommy John
                 Callaspo - .203/.293/.252, 1 HR, 12 Runs, -0.4 rWAR, 1.89 RF/9 (at 3B
                 Jaime - 2 G, 0 GS, 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 10.64 FIP, 3.000 WHIP, 0.0 rWAR
                 Stults - 9 G, 8 GS, 1-5, 5.85 ERA, 5.38 FIP, 1.280 WHIP, -0.4 rWAR
                 Thomas - 5 G, 0 GS, 0-0, 3.38 ERA, 6.51 FIP, 1.688 WHIP, 0.0 WAR

Juan Uribe
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While this trade does not appear to be a major deal based on stats alone, it will have a big impact on the Dodgers. Juan Uribe was a beloved teammate in Los Angeles and many players and fans are going to be sad and angry to see him go. Even though he was struggling to start the year, Uribe was coming off of arguably the best season of his career. While I believe Uribe is past his prime, he would have been a good contributor and leader off the bench for the Dodgers. 

This deal opens up the starting third base spot, where Justin Turner and Alex Guerrero will battle for it. Both players have had hot starts, which made Uribe expendable in the first place. Turner and Guerrero are also both in their second seasons in LA, even though their roads to this point are extremely different. 

Turner is a 30 year-old utility infielder in his fifth full major league season. After struggling in his first few seasons, he finally hit his stride last season, hitting .340 with a .404 OBP and 4.2 rWAR in 109 games. He is continuing the trend this season with slash line is .287/.374/.529 and a rWAR of 1.3.

Guerrero is a 28 year-old Cuban defector who signed for four years and $28 million before the 2014 season. He started the season with the Dodgers, but was soon sent to Albuquerque (The Dodgers 2014 Triple-A affiliate). While he hit .329 with 15 homers and 14 doubles in 65 Triple-A games last season, the biggest news involving Guerrero was the fact that he lost part of his ear in a fight with fellow teammate Miguel Olivo. 

However, Guerrero has put that incident in the back burner and is having a great start to the 2015 campaign. He has a .313/.348/.687 slash line along with eight homers and beat out teammate Joc Pederson for NL Rookie of the Month for April. 

A formal decision between the two will most likely not be made for a few weeks. Nevertheless, Turner has the current upper hand and will probably get the job. Turner has started 15 games at third compared to Guerrero's nine, including four of the last five games. Guerrero has spent most of his games in left field this season and played most of his games last season at second base. 

Justin Turner
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uploads/2015/05/Justin-Turner2.jpg

Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is known for signing and trading for players who have good on-base percentages and defensive skills. In both of those categories, Justin Turner is the better player, which is bad news for Guerrero. Guerrero has gotten playing time this year due to the injuries to Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford. When Puig comes back, it is going to be really tough for Guerrero to get playing time. Pederson and Andre Either are both having monster years and will not be displaced when Puig comes back (unless Either is traded). Scott Van Slyke is also having a good year as a utility outfielder. Guerrero has potential to be a very good player in this league; yet, it looks like he is going to be out of starting job soon. If he becomes available in the near future through trade, I would look to make a deal for him in a heartbeat. But in the meantime, he should focus on playing well and trying to earn a spot on the contending Dodgers. For Turner, he just needs to keep playing well and putting in work. He is on his way to become an above-average major league third baseman, which is exactly what the Dodgers need.