Astros trade Josh Fields to Dodgers for Yordan Alvarez

The Houston Astros traded right-handed reliever Josh Fields to the Los Angeles Dodgers for first base prospect Yordan Alvarez. Here's a quick take.

Yordan Alvarez, 1B: Alvarez is from Cuba; the Dodgers signed him as a free agent this past spring, giving him a $2,000,000 bonus (plus an extra $2,000,000 for exceeding their international signing bonus pool budget). Alvarez has yet to play an official game in Organized Baseball so the Astros are buying the scouting reports.

Said scouting reports indicate an interesting bat. Alvarez is a left-handed hitter, born January 1st, 1997. He was listed at 6-4, 180 a few years ago but his most recent data shows him at 6-5, 220. He's quite strong but apparently has yet to fully tap his power in live games. He's said to have good strike zone judgment, but his range and arm strength limit him to first base.

Overall it is hard to know what the Astros have here until Alvarez takes the field.

Video from Baseball America