The Dodgers traded their second reliever of the day in World Champ Dylan Floro to the Miami Marlins. In return the Dodgers walk away with 2 new prospects. Learn about this trade bottom to top as we break it down.
Highlights
- The Trade
- Player Breakdowns
- Why It Works
- Conclusion
The Trade
Dodgers Send:
- RHP, Dylan Floro
Marlins Send:
- LHP, Alex Vesia
- RHP, Kyle Hurt
Dylan Floro
Floro has been mostly fantastic for the Dodgers these past 3 years. He went 11-4, had a 3.10 ERA, a 1.176 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 133 over 98.2 IP. And those stats are dragged down by a mediocre 2019 sandwiched by excellence in 2018 and ’20. He showed he is more of a mid 2’s ERA reliever with elite upside, rather than the low 4’s ERA of his floor. (2.59 ERA in 2020)
Floro is by no means a flamethrower, but is still keeping up with the league average. His true talent lies in tunneling and his pitch movement. Floro does an excellent job and working the horizontal plane with his 3 offerings. He has his fastball, a slider to dive left, and a changeup to fade to the right.
Batters don’t miss Floro, but they probably wish they do most of the time. His trick is forcing batters into weak contact. Statcast also agrees, ranking him as a top 5% as far as the hard contact rates go. He has an incredible control ranking in the 94th percentile in BB% in 2020.
Floro now joins Anthony Bass, Yimi Garcia, and Richard Bleier as the Marlin’s 2021 closing options.
Alex Vesia
Vesia isn’t ranked as a top prospect, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be valuable soon. The Californian Native is hoping to come on home after being drafted by the Marlins in the 17th round of the 2018 draft. The lefty was a starter in college, but has solidified himself as a reliever in the minor leagues.
He has an 11-2 record, a 1.62 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, and 100 IP to his minor league name. Each year he seems to improve slightly even as his competition has gotten steeper and steeper. His strikeout to walk ratio just kept getting more and more impressive. Until his MLB debut.
He pitched 4.1 innings at the MLB level and gave up 10 runs (9 earned) thanks to 7 walks and 3 homers. Yikes. But 4 bad innings doesn’t erase his 100 innings of being excellent across the minor league. We’ll be seeing Vesia at some point this year.
Kyle Hurt
Hurt was an addition piece here as he was announced later in the day. He was just drafted in 2020 and is yet another California kid (San Diego) and a USC alum. He’s still only 22 and currently listed at 6’3″, 215 lbs. He was a starter most of the time as a Trojan but the Dodgers apparently view him as a hard throwing reliever.
His career ERA there was 5.37 along with a 1.436 WHIP. However, Hurt clearly found another gear in his shortened 2020, or at least that’s what Friedman and Co. think. He only had 4 starts but his ERA dropped to a USC career best, 3.71 and 1.12 WHIP. His strikeout per 9 (which increased every year of college) hit new highs of 13.2. His hit per 9 innings rate dropped by almost 2 from 7.4 to 5.8.
We obviously haven’t been watching Hurt, but it sounds like his control took the leap forward as well as a second pitch to go with his fastball. Losing Hurt is going to hurt the Marlins in the long run. We’re already picturing the combo of Graterol and Hurt pitching absolute gas for years to come.
Why It Works
- Marlins
Miami was one of the surprise competitors of 2020 and it appears they think they can do it over a full 162. They have Derek Jeter and first ever female GM, Kim Ng, leading the rebuild Miami has been waiting for since they gave up on the Stanton, Yelich, Ozuna, Realmuto, and so much more.
Now they’ve signed Adam Duvall after getting Starling Marte last year. Their lineup is so full, Garret Cooper looks like a MLB starter stuck on the bench. Their young rotation has possibly 3 of the most up and coming pitchers in Alcantara, Sixto, and Pablo Lopez.
The biggest thing holding Miami back, was a bullpen with Yimi Garcia as the closer. Well they added Anthony Bass and now Dylan Floro as two late inning relievers at the very least. Add in one of the most underrated lefty relievers in the game, Richard Bleier, and the Marlins now having a big 4 to carry them through innings 6-9 for any win.
- Dodgers
This one is a little more simple. The Dodgers have too much MLB level pitching for a 26 man roster. As nice of a problem this is to have, it’s still a problem and can lead to a lot of clubhouse unrest. Now, the Dodgers flipped Floro after Kolarek clearing the space for Gonsolin and May, as they are officially kicked out of the current rotation.
So yes, the Dodgers gave away two great relievers, Floro in this case, for an exchange of younger talent. The current Dodger roster has about 2 years before it is scheduled to be completely upheaved. Every cheap young option added to the system, makes it easier for the Dodgers to pay the studs they have now. Specifically, a bullpen is an expensive luxury when you pay Free Agents. A bullpen full of Graterols and Gonsolins clears the salary cap space for the rotation and position starters.
Conclusion
This was a win-win. The Marlins get the competitive edge they want for the 2021 season while the Dodgers roster is more cohesive as a unit. Congrats to Ng and Friedman for a deal well done.
Dodger Dynasty 
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