Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
As we rapidly approach the July 30 (3 p.m.) deadline to make trades, it’s quite clear the Dodgers need to do something. More likely, they need to do some things.
For a team that went on a bit of a spending spree in the offseason, it’s a bit surprising they are in this position. Tyler Glasnow has been sensational this season (despite currently being on the injured list). Gavin Stone has logged the second-most innings on the team and, before he got hurt, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had been as-advertised. The rest of the rotation has been an amalgam of under-performers and injured pitchers (sometimes, one coincides with the other). Bobby Miller has one good start under his belt and is currently in Oklahoma City working things out. Walker Buehler has struggled in his return from his second Tommy John surgery and James Paxton has been decidedly mediocre (and that might be a bit generous).
Youngsters like Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski have tried to step in, but those results have been mixed. River Ryan is set to make his MLB debut today, but for a team considered to be one of the World Series favorites ahead of the season, they simply cannot rely on those rookies stepping up enough for it to really matter.
Clayton Kershaw comes back later this week, which is always welcome. However, he’s returning from a November shoulder procedure, so it remains to be seen how he fares. But if they can get recent-level Kershaw for the rest of the season, that’d be a huge boost.
But when thinking about acquiring an arm, the future must be taken into consideration. Here are the starting pitchers the Dodgers have under contract after the 2024 season:
- Nick Frasso
- Glasnow
- Tony Gonsolin
- Kyle Hurt
- Kershaw
- Knack
- Dustin May
- Miller
- Ryan
- Emmet Sheehan
- Stone
- Wrobleski
- Yamamoto
Some of them may not be starters for the long haul (Frasso, Hurt, Knack), but if everyone is healthy, the Dodgers could fashion a solid 5-man rotation with some combo of Glasnow, Kershaw, Gonsolin, May, Miller, Stone and Yamamoto. Of course, that doesn’t exactly look like a championship rotation (but not horrible, either). It seems to be missing someone. Oh! Shohei Ohtani exists. Sure, some are going to say he should just focus on hitting, but the Dodgers didn’t make the 10-year, $700 million investment for him to at least not pitch a little during the lifespan of the deal.
Bottom line is, there are a ton of question marks about the Dodgers’ rotation for the rest of the season and postseason (and the future). With that, they’re going to need to explore the starting pitching market and could knock some things off their offseason shopping list at the same time. So, let’s look at seven of the more likely pitchers to be traded before July 30.
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LHP Tyler Anderson, Angels
The former reclamation project who was an All-Star with the Dodgers in 2022 signed a 3-year deal with the Angels. After a rough 2023 season with Anaheim, Anderson’s shiny sub-3 ERA earned him an All-Star berth in 2024. His 4.59 FIP leaves a lot to be desired, but the fact he’s signed through the 2025 season at an affordable rate could help the Dodgers this season and next.
The 34-year-old isn’t overpowering, as I’m sure you remember. He averaged 90.7 MPH on his fastball with the Dodgers. That has dipped by by 1.5 MPH since then. As a result, he has seen a slight velo decrease on all his offerings. He’s throwing his 4-seamer and changeup more and his cutter and slider less since 2022. Perhaps Mark Prior and Co., could get him back to his 2022 ways, should be be acquired.
RHP Zach Eflin, Rays
A former Dodger for a few moments — came from San Diego in the Matt Kemp deal before heading to Philadelphia in the Jimmy Rollins deal — Eflin is one of the few Rays who is making substantial money, so it’s obvious he’s a trade candidate. That and the fact Tampa isn’t contending as it normally has in the past (sitting around .500) and a trade seems likely.
The Rays signed Eflin, 30, after the 2022 season to a 3-year, $40 million deal through the 2025 season. He was solid in his first season with the Rays (3.50 ERA, 3.01 FIP, 23 K-BB%), but he has regressed a bit this season (4.14 ERA, 3.68 FIP, 16 K-BB%). He’s still a solid rotation piece, but not as big a difference-maker as a couple other guys on this list. Still, the Dodgers could just be looking for innings at this point, and Eflin’s nearly 6 IP per start should be attractive to LA.
Assuming the Dodgers take on the remaining salary (and maybe look at a guy like Randy Arozarena) could make him an easier trade target than some others. That said, he isn’t going to be cheap to acquire.
LHP Garrett Crochet, White Sox
Crochet has been the best pitcher in baseball this season. The 25-year-old is in his first season as a starting pitcher after pitching his entire career out of the bullpen. He has a 3.02 ERA, 2.35 FIP and a 29.8 K-BB%. The biggest issue with him is workload. His previous career-high in innings is 54 1/3 innings back in 2021. He’s already nearly doubled that this season (107 1/3 IP) and it stands to reason that he might not be viewed as a rotation workhorse for the rest of the season. That would actually be intriguing to me if I were Andrew Friedman, Brandon Gomes and Co.
Crochet’s repertoire of a 4-seam fastball, cutter, sweeper and changeup would help to neutralize both sides of the plate late in a postseason game. Essentially, they could deploy Crochet in the 2020 Julio Urias role, a strategy that really seemed to work out well for the team. They could try that with internal options, but I’m not sure any of the current arms are equipped to do that or would be trusted enough to do that.
He’s under team control through the 2026 season, so the acquisition cost would be substantial (especially if they also want to go after Luis Robert and/or Michael Koepech). With the farm system not as top-heavy as in year’s past, the Dodgers should be willing to include anyone to facilitate a deal.
RHP Erick Fedde, White Sox
The former 1st-round pick spent the 2023 in the Korea Baseball Organization, and that helped to rejuvenate his career. He’s posting career-bests in ERA (2.99), FIP (3.52) and a K-BB% (15.1) and is tracking to throw a career-high in innings pitched. He’s coming off a 180 1/3 IP campaign in the KBO, so workload shouldn’t be a concern.
Fedde, 31, reduced his sinker usage from his Nationals’ career to this season, increased his changeup usage and added a sweeper. He changed the grip on his changeup and sweeper to make them more effective. In fact, he credits former Dodger Shelby Miller (when he was with the Yankees) with the sweeper grip that has helped save his career.
He’s in a similar boat as Anderson and Eflin on this list. He doesn’t offer star-upside, but he could be a solid workhorse-type now and next season, as he signed a 2-year, $15 million this past offseason with Chicago. His acquisition cost might be the cheapest of anyone listed here.
RHP Jack Flaherty, Tigers
Flaherty was a popular reclamation project candidate among Dodger fans this past winter. Instead, he signed a 1-year, $14 million deal with the Tigers and has been the version of himself that had him as one of the most promising young pitchers in the game in his Cardinal days. He has a 3.13 ERA, 3.16 FIP and a 28.1 K-BB%. He’s missing the most bats he ever has thanks to increased slider usage.
The 28-year-old is on track to have the best season of his career, and with the Tigers in a similar boat to the Rays (right around .500), the best thing they could do is cash in the lottery ticket with a couple of solid prospects. He won’t land them a global Top 25 guy or anything, but a Top 100 prospect and one or two other team Top 10-15 guys could make sense for both sides.
LHP Yusei Kikuchi, Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are, surprisingly, struggling this season and are almost certainly going to sell. I looked at Bo Bichette (and Arozarena) last month, but with Bichette out with a calf injury, a guy like Kikuchi seems like a more realistic trade target.
The 33-year-old southpaw has pitched better than his 4.54 ERA would indicate. He has a 3.59 FIP and what would be a career-best 20.5 K-BB%. He’s doing this despite an average exit velocity in the bottom 8% of MLB and has given up a 119.2 MPH batted ball this season. He tinkered with a curveball very slightly in 2022 (six pitches) before committing more to it in 2023. It hasn’t bee as effective this season, but it’s his second-most thrown pitch, with his slider usage suffering despite looking like a better pitch than the curve.
Kikuchi is a free agent after the season. He isn’t the workhorse that a guy like Anderson or Eflin could be, but he also offers a little more upside than both. It’d be tough to gamble on Prior changing much about Kikcuhi since they’ll probably only have him for a couple months, but if the acquisition cost of other starters this deadline proves to be prohibitive, he could be a nice fallback option.
LHP Tarik Skubal, Tigers
Skubal, 27, is the real prize of this trade deadline. While I said Crochet has been the best pitcher in baseball earlier, Skubal is right up there and actually has Crochet bested in some categories. Overall, he has a 2.41 ERA, 2.56 FIP and a 26.2 K-BB%. The signs of a breakout were there after 80 1/3 innings in 2023 that saw him post a 2.80 ERA, 2.30 FIP and a 28.4 K-BB%.
He has dealt with injuries in his career, but he seems unencumbered this season and is averaging more than 6 IP per start. He’s armed with a 4-seam fastball, changeup, sinker, slider and occasionally throws a knuckle curveball. His changeup is the only pitch in which he’s allowing a batting average over .200 (.217), but it’s also his highest Whiff% pitch by far (46.8).
Skubal has some of the best stuff of any starter in the game and is putting it all together. If he’s truly available, the Tigers are set to get a haul because Skubal is under team control through the 2026 season and figures to only get better the deeper he gets into his prime. Much like Crochet, the Dodgers should make available anyone in the farm system the Tigers would want to make a deal happen.
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If it were up to me, I would do whatever it took to get Skubal. Knowing Friedman’s hitsory, though, that doesn’t seem too likely. Since it isn’t, here’s how I would rank the above hurlers in terms of most likely acquisition.
- Crochet
- Anderson
- Flaherty
- Eflin
- Fedde
- Kikuchi
- Skubal
There’s a lot of smoke around the Dodgers and Crochet, which is why I have him atop the list. If they get Crochet, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pair that acquisition with another arm — maybe not even one listed above. If not Crochet (or Skubal), Flaherty could be the biggest upside starter the Dodgers could acquire prior to the trade deadline.
It’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out. The Dodgers have a lot of work to do to shore up the roster ahead of October, and this is where Friedman really earns his paycheck.
