On Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers addressed a bullpen need with the acquisition of southpaw Scott Alexander from the Kansas City Royals.
The club also received utility man Jake Peter in the deal, while sending prospects Erick Mejia and Trevor Oaks to the Royals. Veteran left-hander Luis Avilan will also head to the Chicago White Sox as part of the three-team trade.
With free-agent Tony Watson unlikely to return to Los Angeles this year, the Dodgers successfully found a cost-efficient replacement in Alexander. The 28-year-old joins Tony Cingrani, Adam Liberatore and Edward Paredes as viable left-handed options that could appear on the Major League roster at various points next season.
During an interview on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, Alexander further discussed his transition to Los Angeles and offered high praise for his new teammates and coaching staff:
“I rely heavily on my sinker, that was kind of what I did last year. I like to attack hitters and get after guys and kind of just trust the defense and try to just compete and go from there. I really enjoy gathering knowledge from different players and different coaches, so I’m just really excited about joining this team and they got so many great players and a great coaching staff over there, so I’m just really looking forward to the opportunity and just really excited about it. Hopefully, I can bring my own personality to this team and we can all blend well.”
Alexander enjoyed a breakout season with the Royals last season, in which he posted career-bests in ERA (2.48), FIP (3.23), strikeouts (59) and innings pitched (69). He additionally tallied four saves and accumulated 2.2 WAR, per Baseball-Reference’s calculations.
The Santa Rosa, Calif. native held opposing left-handed batters to a .250/.333/.347 slash line in 81 opportunities. He fared slightly better against the reverse split, limiting right-handed hitters to a .244/.313/.317 slash line over 202 plate appearances.
Alexander remains under club control through the 2023 season and isn’t eligible for arbitration until 2020. What’s more, he still has two Minor League options remaining — giving the Dodgers further flexibility for roster construction.
