Deal of the Day: Dodgers Make Splashy Trade, Bringing Back…

On Dec. 16, 2015, the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a flurry of moves, acquire 3B Todd Frazier the from Cincinnati Reds only to then flip him to the Chicago White Sox for Minor Leaguers Micah Johnson, Frankie Montas and Trayce Thompson.

The Dodgers sent three prospects to the Reds in exchange for Frazier, including infielder Jose Peraza, whom they had acquired via trade from the Atlanta Braves in July of that year.

On its own, this trade with the Reds was pretty inconsequential for the Dodgers as none of the prospects they acquired were in the organization three seasons later.

The real impact of this trade came in 2016 when the Dodgers traded Montas and two other prospects at the trade deadline to the Oakland Athletics for Rich Hill and Josh Reddick. Hill went on to have a very productive stint with the Dodgers from 2016-2019.

Of the three prospects acquired in the Frazier trade, Thompson had by far the most productive stretch for the Dodgers, but it came four years after he was designated for assignment and traded to the Athletics in 2018.

Thompson returned in 2022 in a trade with the San Diego Padres and had a very productive 74 games for the Dodgers.

Johnson’s time with the Dodgers organization was very brief, appearing in seven Major League games before being designated for assignment and traded to the Braves in 2017.

Dodgers $31.8 million CBT payment leads MLB

On Dec. 16 2016, a record-setting six teams were hit with luxury tax payments ahead of the 2017 season. The Dodgers led the pack with a payment of $31.8 million, while the New York Yankees were not too far behind at $27.4 million.

The Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs each had penalties under $5 million.

The large tax penalty for the Dodgers came on the heels of five consecutive seasons of being over the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) threshold from 2013-2017. They got under the luxury tax threshold for the 2018 season and didn’t go above it until 2021.

Matt Kemp’s second stint with the Dodgers

On Dec. 16 2017, the Dodgers and Braves completed a five player trade with Adrián González, Charlie Culberson, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy heading to Atlanta and Matt Kemp coming back to L.A. in return.

At the time, the move was seen as purely a salary dump for the Dodgers as they managed to unload about $48 million in future salary for 2018, helping them duck under the CBT threshold in the process.

Kemp had shown the ability to still provide value with his bat in the three seasons since being traded from the Dodgers in 2014, but not to the same heights he was once able to reach. He had also become a defensive liability in the outfield.

Many expected the Dodgers to do what the Braves did with González and designate Kemp for assignment, but that didn’t end up happening.

Instead, he was one of the cornerstones of a special 2018 season that saw the Dodgers overcome tremendous amounts of adversity to reach their second consecutive World Series.

Kemp was traded once again following this resurgent 2018 season, this time to the Reds, but was not done helping out the Dodgers organization.

As part of the Dodgers return for Kemp, Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray were part of trade packages for Mookie Betts, Max Scherzer, and Trea Turner down the line.