When Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi joined the organization last season they quickly worked to retool the roster.
One of those significant changes was trading All-star second baseman Dee Gordon, Dan Haren and Miguel Rojas to the Miami Marlins.
In exchange, the Dodgers received Austin Barnes, Chris Hatcher, Andrew Heaney and Kiké Hernandez. Heaney was then flipped to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Howie Kendrick.
While the Dodgers did gain depth with the trade, Gordon’s 2015 season was a memorable one as he became the first player to win a Gold Glove, lead the Majors in stolen bases and win the batting title all in the same season.
The speedy second baseman added a Silver Slugger Award to his collection on Thursday. Zaidi praised Gordon for his successful year, but added he is happy with what the Dodgers received in that trade, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Dee had a great season, no doubt about it,” Zaidi said. “We’re obviously really happy with the guys we got. It was about filling the position, which we did with Howie, and also [to] create depth at other spots and get guys that will be part of our club for the next several years.”
Zaidi didn’t express much surprise for the offensive success Gordon had, though credited the second baseman and the Miami coaches for making strides that led to a first career Gold Glove Award:
“With his speed and approach, he’s going to leg out a lot of infield hits, which he did, so he has the ability to hit for high average,” said Zaidi. “Defensively, because it was a new position for him, to get better at that new position is an impressive accomplishment, and I know the Miami guys have done a good job and he’s credited them.”
In 145 games Gordon batted .333 with 58 stolen bases and committed six errors in just his second season playing second base. He’ll now gets to play under his 2014 manager as the Marlins hired Don Mattingly soon after his separation from with the Dodgers.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the search continues for Mattingly’s replacement and an answer at second base with Kendrick a free agent.
