There’s a big trade going down right now involving the Reds, Dodgers, and White Sox, with the biggest name being that of stud third baseman Todd Frazier.
Some of the moving pieces:
Todd Frazier is pet of the White Sox – Dodgers trade #Reds
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) December 16, 2015
todd frazier goes to white sox
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 16, 2015
Peraza, Dixon, Schebler go to #Reds
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 16, 2015
Yeah. I'd say this is getting big. Parts of three-way deal we know: Dodgers get Montas, White Sox get Todd Frazier. https://t.co/rDUnnEn22I
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 16, 2015
montas micah johnson and trayce thompson go to dodgers
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 16, 2015
It’ll take a minute to unpack all of that, as I presume most of us are not intimately familiar with the various White Sox and Dodgers prospects.
The biggest immediate impact here for the Cubs, obviously, is a further-weakened Reds club for the near-term. They pick up some prospects in the process, and the rebuild continues apace. Since it’s quite clear that the Brewers and Reds are stripping it down to the studs – pun definitely not intended, and not accurate – it would definitely help the Cubs (and Pirates and Cardinals) if the Padres and Rockies do not do the same thing out in the NL West, and if the Braves somehow surprise in 2016 out in the East. That could leave the NL Central as the most disparate division in the NL at the top and bottom, yielding a few extra wins for each of the three teams at the top, relative to the rest of the league.
UPDATE: For what it’s worth …
Scouts, execs raving about White Sox getting Frazier and prospect package Dodgers got back. Reported return for Cincinnati … not so much.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 16, 2015
UPDATE 2: As I peruse the deal a bit more, it seems like you’d have to be really into Peraza to like the deal for the Reds. For a guy like Frazier, even coming off a down second half, you’d expect the Reds to get at least one truly elite prospect. I’m not sure Peraza is that.