Trades don’t always pay dividends. Not immediately. Sometimes it takes a while for prospects to develop, for creating chemistry, for players to settle in to a new city, new teammates, new fans.
In the case of the Dodgers, they have a history of being on the wrong end of trades.
One of the worst trades in Dodgers history, if not baseball history, was the Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez deal. DeShields didn’t quite pan out and Martinez pitched the Red Sox to a World Series title and his way into the Hall of Fame.
The Dodgers traded Mike Piazza in one of the most ill-advised moves in sports history. The Dodgers gave away a future Hall of Famer, a fan favorite, one of Tommy Lasorda’s favorites, all because of money.
The Dodgers spent years trying to recover from the Piazza trade, and the Frank McCourt era afterward. It was a dark time in Dodgers history.
But some trades work out well for the Dodgers. The Steve Finley trade comes to mind. His grand slam against the San Francisco Giants on Oct. 2, 2004, made him a Dodgers legend. It clinched the National League West championship in dramatic fashion against the hated Giants. The Dodgers were a force of a team in 2004. Finley made them a playoff force that year, even though the Dodgers weren’t quite a World Series force.
The Manny Ramirez trade from the Boston Red Sox in 2008 might be one of the greatest moves by the Dodgers. Ramirez came to the Dodgers and made them playoff contenders for a few years. The Ramirez trade didn’t produce a World Series title either but it did generate plenty of excitement.
A few years later, the Dodgers and Red Sox made another deal in 2012. This time the Red Sox sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford to the Dodgers for a package of players that included James Loney. It served the Dodgers well again, providing plenty of playoff talent, but again, did not produce a World Series.
The latest Dodger deal, the one that brought Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from the Washington Nationals, might be the best of them all.
Turner has already become an offensive spark plug for a Dodgers team that has struggled to score runs this year. He is in contention for a batting title and in the mix for National League MVP. There is no doubt Turner has been a valuable addition to the Dodgers.
But Scherzer is on another level.
He has quickly become the ace of a Dodgers staff that had four aces when the season started. Clayton Kershaw has the credentials to be a No. 1 starter on most teams. Julio Urias has emerged as an automatic win in 2021. Walker Buehler is among the National League leaders in ERA and WHIP. And then there’s Trevor Bauer, talented pitcher, but questionable decision-making skills.
Out of those four pitchers, Scherzer has outshined all of them.
In addition to having one of the best ERAs in the National League, Scherzer has quietly put together a string of scoreless innings. It is at 36⅔ innings after his start on Saturday on the road against the Cincinnati Reds, a game the Dodgers won 5-1 after Scherzer pitched seven shutout innings. He is creeping into Dodgers legendary territory, joining Orel Hershiser and Don Drysdale with the longest scoreless innings streaks in major league history. Hershiser had a 59 scoreless inning streak in 1988, breaking Drysdale's record of 58⅔ innings in 1968.
Granted, Scherzer has a way to go before being mentioned in the same breath as Hershiser and Drysdale. But Scherzer has become the pitcher Dodger fans want to see on the mound in a one-game playoff, in a game the Dodgers need to win to stay alive in the playoffs.
The way it is playing out in the National League, it looks like the Dodgers will need to have to win a one-game playoff to keep their playoff hopes and World Series hopes alive. If it comes down to that, Scherzer is the pitcher who needs to start that game.
Dodgers starting pitching power rankings:
- Max Scherzer
- Juilo Urias
- Walker Buehler
- Clayton Kershaw
- Tony Gonsolin
The Dodgers (96-54) head to Colorado to start a three-game series against the Rockies on Tuesday. They finish out the week in Arizona for a weekend series against the Diamondbacks starting on Friday. The Dodgers trail the surprising first-place Giants by one game in the NL West standings with 12 games to play.
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