There’s an old saying in baseball: “You’re a good hitter when a good hitter says you’re a good hitter.”

Ok, it isn’t really an old saying, but it certainly could be or perhaps even should be.

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner is a good hitter. In fact, he is a very good hitter, having posted an outstanding slash-line of .303 / .378 / .502 / .881 during his four seasons with the Dodgers and an even more outstanding slash-line of .322 / .414 / .530 / .945 during the just-concluded 2017 season. A very good hitter indeed.

So when Turner was asked recently what he thought about 27-year-old Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor as a hitter, the popular Dodgers redhead confirmed that the Virginia Beach, Virginia native is also a good hitter; a very good hitter.

“Before he made the swing adjustment, he was a really good hitter,” said Turner, “He controlled the strike zone, he swung at good pitches. Now, with the adjustments he’s made, he’s turned himself into a dangerous hitter.”

As most Dodger fans know, Taylor was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a June 19, 2016 trade that sent Dodgers former 2010 first-round draft pick Zach Lee to Seattle. Taylor, a fifth-round draft pick by the Mariners in 2012, had played in a grand total of 86 major league games over parts of three seasons in Seattle, but only two in 2016. He spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Tacoma. But obviously seeing something that the Mariners did not, the Dodgers sent Taylor to The Show after only 15 games at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He would end up playing 34 games for the Dodgers in 2016.

It did not go well.

Taylor finished the 2016 season going 12-for-58 (.207). However, of those 12 hits, two were doubles, two were triples and one a grand slam home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 15, 2016. In that game, Taylor was, of all things, a single shy of hitting for the cycle in the eventual 13-6 rout of the snakes. He also drove in six of those 13 Dodgers runs.

Chris Taylor’s grand slam against the Dbacks on July 15, 2016 was his first major league home run. You can bet it was also felt in Seattle. (Video capture courtesy of MLB.com)

Enter that swing adjustment thing.

During the winter following the 2016 season, Taylor spent considerable time working with Dodgers hitting consultants Craig Wallenbrock and Robert Von Scoyoc, who got Taylor to add an exaggerated leg kick to his swing that resembled the one used by (wait for it…) Justin Turner. They also got Taylor to change his swing plane to help him drive pitches in the air more than he had in the past.

It worked.

Not only did Turner notice the major adjustments to CT3’s swing, so too did Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. In fact, Roberts noticed on day-1 of spring training 2017.

“Yeah, it was actually the first day of full-squad workouts,” Roberts said. “At that point in time, he was on a back field. As I was kind of making my way around the different hitting groups and the different fields, you see Chris and the way the ball’s coming off [his bat] and he completely changed his swing mechanics.

“He really had a loop in his swing and really couldn’t get to velocity. That kind of changed, and the way he’s using his entire body. The ball was just coming off a lot more hot. I remember talking to Andrew (Friedman) at that point in time and saying, ‘This guy’s a real player right now’ and he became so offensive really quickly.”

As we all know, Taylor would go on to have a career year in 2017, finishing the regular season with a very impressive slash-line of .288 / .354 / .496 / .850. He also slugged 21 home runs (including three more grand slams), 34 doubles and five triples. As an added bonus, Taylor also stole a team-high 17 bases. During the postseason, Taylor and (wait for it…) Justin Turner were named co-MVPs of the National League Championship Series against the defending 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs.

Simply put, acquiring Chris Taylor for Zach Lee was among the best trades in recent history for the Dodgers … perhaps ever.

…unless you’re the Seattle Mariners.

“It’s clearly the worst deal I’ve ever made,” said Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto, without even the slightest hesitation. “And it resonates every time he hits a home run.

“I whiffed. There’s no other way to categorize it,” Dipoto added. “He’s young, he was under club control — that was one I wish I could undo. It won’t be the last time I trade a player that flourishes somewhere else. But we’ve also had guys that flourished after we acquired them.”

Maybe so, but it most definitely didn’t happened with the counter piece of the Chris Taylor trade, now 26-year-old right-hander Zach Lee. In fact, the hard-throwing Plano, Texas native never made a major league appearance with the Mariners and was designated for assignment following the 2016 season. He was subsequently claimed off waivers by the San Diego Padres on December 13, 2016 but appeared in only three games (one start) with the Friars. The good news is that he picked up his one and only MLB win in that one start. The bad news is that he was released by the Padres on August 14, 2017 and, as of this writing, has not been picked up by another team.

Lee made his only major league appearance with the Dodgers on July 25, 2015 against the New York Mets at Citi Field. It was, in every sense of the word, a disaster in the eventual 15-2 loss. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

To add insult to injury, Taylor is under team control through the 2018 season and becomes arbitration eligible in 2019. In other words, the Dodgers will pay Taylor the MLB minimum of $545,000 in 2018, an absolute steal.

Simply put, trading Chris Taylor for Zach Lee was among the worst trades in recent history for the Mariners … perhaps ever.