Los Angeles Dodgers

Premature Trade Analysis: Dodgers vs. Angels

Published Jun. 30, 2015 5:24 p.m. ET

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I'm sure you've already enjoyed Ken Rosenthal's story about discord between the Angels' front office and their field staff. There's so much juicy stuff in there, but here's just one tidbit:

You think maybe the guys are missing Howie Kendrick? Because the roster is mostly the same as it was a year ago, when the Angels scored a ton of runs and won a ton of games. Josh Hamilton's gone and Kendrick's gone, but otherwise it's mostly a bunch of guys who hit last year but aren't hitting this year.

Oh, the trade:

Trading your every-day second baseman, a sort of semi-star, for a guy who's never pitched in the majors? And replacing that semi-star with a 4-A guy who couldn't move Omar Infante off second base in Kansas City?

So far it's not worked out so well. The Angels did save some money, but swapping out Kendrick for Giavotella is obviously a net loss.

It's just not a big one. Giavotella hasn't been good this season, at all. But Kendrick's not been real good, either. The difference between them is approximately ... one whole win. One. With a net savings of $9 million.

Oh, and Andrew Heaney, who probably would have been the Dodgers' No. 2 pitching prospect (after Julio Urias) if they hadn't traded him to the Angels. Granted, they traded him minutes after getting him from the Marlins in another trade, which is probably the only reason they got him at all. So I'm not dinging the Dodgers, who wanted to upgrade at second base and did.

Still. Kendrick's not played well, and Heaney, who debuted with the Angels last week, has a decent shot at winning a bunch of games over the next few years. Which was more than Kendrick was going to do before hitting free agency this winter.

Albert Pujols is having a great season, and it's not hard to understand his frustration with most of his teammates. It's hardly Johnny Giavotella's fault, though.

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