Dodgers: MLB Insider Believes LA Lost Miguel Rojas Trade
A couple weeks ago, the Dodgers traded prospect Jacob Amaya to the Marlins for veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, who returns to the team he debuted with in 2014. The trade leaves a lot of question marks because Rojas's role with Los Angeles remains unclear.
For at least one MLB insider, though, the Dodgers were the losers in that trade. Former big-league general manager Jim Bowden, who lost one GM job because he was bad at it and the other because he was under federal investigation for skimming bonus money that was supposed to go towards signing bonuses for Latin American prospects, still gets paid to have opinions, so sure, let's see his thoughts on this trade.
10. Marlins traded INF Miguel Rojas to Dodgers for SS Jacob Amaya
Trade Grades: Marlins — A-minus; Dodgers — C
The Marlins believe Amaya could be their everyday shortstop as early as this year, and they’re convinced he’s major-league-ready defensively. Amaya, an 11th-round pick in the 2017 draft, last year slashed .261/.369/.427 with 20 doubles, four triples, 17 home runs and 71 RBIs between Double A and Triple A. The Marlins’ evaluators are higher on Amaya, 24, than the Dodgers’. After losing Trea Turner in free agency, the Dodgers were looking to add a veteran infielder, and they think Rojas could end up starting at shortstop or second base for them. However, over the past three years, Rojas has been in serious decline. His OBP has dropped from .392 (in the shortened 2020 season) to .322 to .283 in that span, and he’s also lost a step or two in his defensive range. He profiles more as a utility player than the everyday shortstop he’s been for Miami since 2018. Rojas does bring leadership and other intangibles and is a terrific teammate.
Okay. First of all, if you're going to use minuses in your grading scale, don't use dashes in your formatting so you can just write A- for the Marlins and C for the Dodgers. But I digress.
The key point here is this: "The Marlins' evaluators are higher on Amaya than the Dodgers'." If the Dodgers' evaluators are right to be less high on Amaya than Miami's are, then they win the trade by getting something of value for him. If Miami is right, they win.
So what Bowden is saying by grading the trade this way is that he's with Miami on this one. I'm not saying the LA front office is infallible, but if you're gonna go out on a limb and say the Marlins fleeced the Dodgers, you probably need something better than a .795 minor-league OPS last season, more than half of which was spent in a hitters' league.
Also, while Rojas did have decreased range according to the stats last year, he also had his best overall defensive season, which seems like it might oughtta count for something.
But yeah, I guess if I had a gun to my head, I'd take the front office that keeps putting together 100+ win teams and top farm systems over the Marlins.
