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The Los Angeles Dodgers have traded Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, Matt Kemp, Kyle Farmer, and $7 million to the Cincinnati Reds for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray. Bailey will reportedly immediately be released by the Dodgers.
In making this deal, the Dodgers save about $13 million in luxury tax payroll calculations — Bailey counts only $17.5 million towards the luxury tax this year, due to his long term deal being averaged out for luxury tax purposes, even though he’s actually due almost $30 million between his 2019 salary and his 2020 option buyout. Kemp was superfluous for them and Farmer was a bench guy at best. Puig and Wood are both solid major leaguers, but in areas where the Dodgers had a lot of depth and were looking to move players and salary. By parting with those four and taking on Bailey, the Dodgers have added a pair of solid prospects in Downs, a 2017 first rounder, and Gray, a 2018 2nd rounder.
As for the Reds, they are getting a couple of good players in Wood and Puig who are free agents after the season, but gave up a pair of nice prespects in the bargain. Between this and the Tanner Roark grade, they are showing a willingness to add short-term salary to improve for 2019, but I’m not sure how much this really moves the needle for them.