Angels' trade for Dodgers' Pederson falls through
The multi-player swap between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels involving Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling fell through Sunday
The Dodgers reportedly agreed last Tuesday to send Pederson, Stripling, and prospect Andy Pages to Anaheim for infielder Luis Rengifo, but the transaction fell through because Angels owner Arte Moreno grew impatient and pulled out, sources told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
"There are a lot of components in deals that need to be satisfied before you get to a point where you are calling players and informing them," Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Monday, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. "We weren't able to get to that point, and in fairness to our players and players with other organizations, we won't comment further than that."
The deal was initially presumed to have simply been held up as part of the backlog from the original three-way trade between the Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and Minnesota Twins involving Mookie Betts.
That deal was eventually scuttled due to Boston's issues with pitcher Brusdar Graterol's medical. The Dodgers reportedly completed separate trades with Boston and Minnesota on Sunday to add Betts, Graterol, and David Price.
After rejigging the Boston and Minnesota deals, the Dodgers may have deemed their trade with the Angels unnecessary, according to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez.
Pederson also lost his arbitration hearing to the Dodgers while sitting in trade limbo. He'll now earn $7.75 million in 2020, instead of the $9 million the 27-year-old requested. MLB's decision to go through with his hearing left the Players Association angry about what union head Tony Clark called a "perversion of the salary arbitration process."
With the trade now dead, the Dodgers are left with a sudden glut of outfielders. Seven members of their projected 26-man roster - Pederson, Betts, Cody Bellinger, A.J. Pollock, Matt Beaty, Enrique Hernandez, and Chris Taylor - play the outfield on at least a part-time basis. Stripling, meanwhile, is a candidate to potentially replace Kenta Maeda in the team's rotation.
Elsewhere, the Angels must look for a starter to fill the rotation spot that would have likely gone to Stripling. They will keep Rengifo, who turned in a solid rookie season for the Halos, and he projects to be an important part of their club in 2020.
Despite playing a few miles apart for the last 58 years, the Dodgers and Angels have only made nine player-for-player trades, and none since 2014, according to Baseball-Reference.