2024 Dodgers Trade Deadline Targets: Relief Pitchers

The trade deadline is tomorrow and — if the last few weeks are any indication — the Dodgers need some bullpen help. Evan Phillips has regressed, Daniel Hudson has struggled, Blake Treinen is taking the recent political news hard and Alex Vesia appears to be gassed. Brusdar Graterol might be back soon, and while Bruiser (my better nickname for him) will be a welcome addition, the Dodgers are still lacking.

For the first time in quite a while, the Dodgers don’t have a true lockdown arm (or arms) at the end of the bullpen. We as Dodger fans have been quite spoiled when it comes to closers since about 2002 — Eric Gagne, Takashi Saito, Jonathan Broxton, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel and Phillips. Phillips’ regression has been a bit surprising.

With guys like Jason Adam, Seranthony Dominguez, Carlos Estevez, Yimi Garcia, Hunter Harvey and Nick Mears already having been moved, it’s definitely a seller’s market, which means the Dodgers should be able to add. But Andrew Friedman is on record saying he dislikes trading for relievers at the deadline. Seriously, here are the relievers he has acquired in his tenure at or near the trade deadline as Dodgers’ president of baseball operations:

• Luis Avilan
• John Axford
• Tony Cingrani
• Grant Dayton
• Josh Fields
• Dylan Floro
• Joe Kelly
• Adam Kolarek
• Chris Martin
• Tony Watson

Not exactly a lot of prime Billy Wagners in there. So, the pipedream of a Mason Miller seems like just that — a pipedream. He’ll still appear below, but let’s look at some other options as well.

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RHP Anthony Bender and LHP Tanner Scott, Marlins

Bender, 29, is having a nice resurgent season after missing 2023 with an injury. He has a 3.83 ERA, 2.90 FIP and a 17.4 K-BB%. He operates mainly with a sinker and sweeper. He mixes in the occasional changeup to left-handers. He has seen his sweeper usage decrease since the 2022 season in favor of his sinker, but with a .198 wOBA against and and nearly 35% whiff rate, it’d be a safe assumption that the Dodgers might have him increase that usage. It also wouldn’t be shocking to see him develop a cutter to use against lefties, ala Treinen. He’s under team control through the 2027 season, the cost might be a bit higher than expected.

Scott, 30, might be the biggest non-Miller reliever moved before tomorrow afternoon, and the Dodgers don’t appear to be connected to him. He’s in the Top 1% of average exit velocity against (82.5 MPH) and misses a ton of bats with his 4-seam fastball/slider combination. He’s locked up through next season, so it’s a safe bet that a contender will meat Miami’s asking price for the southpaw.

RHP Dylan Floro and RHP Kyle Finnegan, Nationals

There’s something to be said for familiarity. Friedman isn’t opposed to reacquiring guys he has moved before (Kelly, Miguel Rojas, etc.), and Floro would be a 3-time trade target for Friedman. And, quietly, Floro has been one of the more solid middle relievers in baseball in the last half-decade. He’s most remembered in LA for striking out Randy Arozarena on three straight changeups in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, and his 2.06 ERA and 2.61 FIP would be a welcome sight in the ‘pen. However, there’s a bit of a red flag with Floro. The 33-year-old’s average fastball velocity is down 2 MPH from last season. Yet, he’s still doing a great job at missing barrels (Top 2 percentile in Barrel%), even while allowing the highest full-season exit velo of his career (89.3 MPH). He’d be a solid middle reliever-type, which the Dodgers can always seeming use. He’d be a rental, so the acquisition cost shouldn’t be too high.

Washington has already traded their setup man in Harvey, and Finnegan figures to be the next to go. The 32-year-old is enjoying the best season of his career with a 2.47 ERA and a near-career-best 17.3 K-BB%. But that’s a bit deceiving, as he has a 4.18 FIP thanks to a 1.44 HR/9. That’s also with a .204 BABIP against, which is well below his career average. He boasts a 97 MPH fastball, a splitter and a sparingly used slider. His splitter has been a little problematic, while his slider — in a small sample size of 37 pitches — has been underused and undervalued. Then again, he allowed a .417 (!) BAA last season on his slider, so maybe it’s a good thing he isn’t throwing it as much. He’s under team control through the 2025 season and seems more like a guy for a team a tier below the Dodgers and others.

RHP Giovanny Gallegos, Cardinals

Gallegos, 33 in a couple weeks, was designated for assignment by the Cardinals yesterday, but they did that with the intent of trading him before tomorrow’s deadline. He’d make some sense for LA (and they’re reportedly sniffing around Tommy Edman), despite the ugly 6.53 ERA, 6.34 FIP and 11.7 K-BB%. He’s coming off an injury riddled 2023 season. He has an 86.9 MPH exit velo against and a nearly 40% whiff rate on his slider. However, his 4-seam fastball has been a problem with a .505 wOBA and just a 6.9 Whiff%. Last year, those numbers were .317 and 20.1, respectively. His average velo is down 1.5 and seven of the 12 hits he has allowed on his fastball have been extra base hits (2 doubles, 5 home runs). He’s a candidate for a Mark Prior fixing, but with him being a free agent after the season, he’d make a much more logical offseason acquisition than a midseason one.

RHP Michael Kopech, White Sox

Normally, the Dodgers probably wouldn’t be terribly interested in Kopech. But with them being attached to Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr., it would be more of an acquisition of convenience for LA. The 28-year-old was part of the Chris Sale trade all the way back in 2016. He was a starter for the last two seasons with not-great results. A move to the bullpen has seen him increase his velocity and raise his strikeout rate, but he’s still wild and leans quite a bit on his 4-seamer. He throws it 79% of the time and has some good numbers with it (31.9 Whiff%, .209 BAA, 88.6 MPH EV), but he has also allowed seven homers on it. His cutter and slider are remarkably similar pitches, with about 4.5 MPH of velocity difference.

Pitch	#	#RHB	#LHB	%	MPH	BA	EV	Whiff%
Cutter	82	45	37	10.5	91.3	.250	86.1	23.8
Slider	79	47	32	10.2	86.6	.259	87.9	28.2

You’d think he would enjoy more success with the breaking stuff. A Martin/Treinen-esque overhaul of usage could help him going forward. He’s under team control through next season and, at this point, would be a little better than a throw-in type if the Dodgers and White Sox consummate a larger deal. I don’t see Kopech, on his own, being a target for LA.

RHP Mason Miller, Athletics

When rumors surfaced about six weeks into the season that Miller might be available, many were shocked. The A’s are in such disarray that it’d actually make sense if they moved their best player, only because of everything else going on in Oakland (soon-to-be Sacramento before Las Vegas). There’s a complication with the fireballer — he just went on the injured list with fractured left hand. Its not an injury that’s expected to keep him out long-term, but Miller wouldn’t just be a short-term acquisition. The 25-year-old is one of the best relievers in baseball, as his Baseball Savant is bathed in red. He’s in the 100th percentile in the following categories:

• xERA
• xBA
• Fastball Velo
• Chase%
• Whiff%
• K%

And he’s 98th in HardHit%, as well as 91st in exit velocity (86.6 MPH). He shoves on a consistent basis and would immediately become the Dodgers (or almost any team’s) best reliever. While his availability may be in question, the Dodgers were interested in him before he fractured his hand. Still, I’d love to see the Dodgers pay whatever it takes to get him and throw him into the bullpen when his hand is healed. As a bit of a twist, I’d also like to see them try to return him to the rotation following the season — a move he’d be open to. He was predominantly a starter in college and the minors. He even came up as a starter last season before missing a good portion of the season with an elbow injury. Most pitchers eventually break, so the Dodgers might as well try to get more valuable innings out of a guy with his type of arm talent rather than relegating him to 70 innings a season. If he gets hurt again, then a permanent move to the ‘pen could be explored (and we’ve already seen the results of that).

He’d cost a ton — think Josue De Paula, Dalton Rushing and maybe even one or two off the MLB roster — but he’d be worth it.

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Miller would, easily, top my list. However, I don’t actually see a deal going down. Here’s how I’d rank it in terms of realism:

1. Floro
2. Gallegos
3. Bender
4. Finnegan
5. Kopech
6. Miller
7. Scott

I could see the Dodgers acquiring multiple guys here (and maybe even some not included). With everything the pitching staff has been through this season, a new pitcher or four seems likely before tomorrow’s deadline.