WEDNESDAY, 2:00pm: Gordon is indeed in play for the Dodgers, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). He adds that the Dodgers have their sights set on big targets. As an All-Star with four years of team control, teams value Gordon highly.
3:59am: Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi denies that the team is interested in trading Gordon, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick writes. “He’s a cost-controlled, All-Star second baseman that teams would have four more years of control, a tremendous player, and anybody like that, teams ask for,” says Zaidi. “We’re not dangling him. Like I said, he is our second baseman.”
TUESDAY: The Dodgers have let teams know that they’re open to trading Dee Gordon, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link). Gordon played 144 games at second base last season but played almost exclusively at shortstop prior to 2014, so he could appeal to teams looking for help at either middle infield position.
Gordon is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projects him to earn $2.5MM in 2015. As a Super Two player, Gordon has an extra year of arbitration eligibility and is team-controlled through the 2018 season.
Players who can get on base are a priority for the new Dodgers front office, Sherman notes, and Gordon has only a career .314 OBP. Still, Gordon certainly has some trade value following an All-Star season that saw him hit .289/.326/.378 over 650 plate appearances while leading the league in both steals (64) and triples (12). His production tailed off down the stretch, however, as Gordon posted just a .632 OPS over his last 68 games. If Gordon is dealt, Alex Guerrero, Justin Turner and Darwin Barney could all see time at 2B for Los Angeles, though some of those players could also address the club’s vacancy at shortstop in the wake of Hanley Ramirez’s departure.
