if we're having this conversation a year ago, maybe you're talking about cody bellinger and not alex verdugo. i just don't see how it makes sense for any team that has the division locked up and is on pace for 114 wins to give up any future value for "upgrades." diminishing returns. i'm not even sure you get a 2% gain there. their WS odds are already absurdly high. maxed out. hell, they can still trade verdugo when they actually need an upgrade, maybe next year. how the hell do you get better than a .700 baseball team? Verdugo isn't on the same level as Seager or Bellinger (I'm not sure Joc won't end up with a better career). How much did the Cubs gain in WS% by trading away a better prospect than Verdugo for Chapman? The Cubs don't win last year's WS without Chapman. There are actual deficiencies and red flags on the Dodgers roster that should be addressed. That's speculative hindsight. I don't really agree that they don't win it without him (in the sense that they won it because they got him). They probably don't win it either way if they do it over again, but they did something very improbable. It's just not something worth debating. Of course you can point to any player who contributed and say, "Oh, they don't win it without that guy." The fact is, they had to strongly defy the odds either way. They did. I don't think they did anything right beyond just being a good baseball team that had some improbable things fall their way in key moments. You're not gonna convince me otherwise on the math. We just got very lucky, despite being really damn good. And not that it's all that consequential to the argument, Bellinger was only a top 100 prospect (54) on BA's list a year ago (I'm guessing by midseason he had moved onto lists but I'm too lazy to check). Verdugo went into this year 58th on BA, 61st and MLB.com, and 66th on BP. I don't think their value (bellinger last year) is crazy off as prospects.