Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
As you’ve likely heard by now from a number of sources — perhaps our own wonderful Game Threads — the Dodgers recently traded pitcher Nick Frasso and outfielder Landyn Vidourek to the Rockies for reliever Seth Halvorsen. And while I’ve come to many of the same conclusions about the trade in a vacuum, I also think the trade provides a preview of what could potentially follow in the next two weeks leading up to the deadline.
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For a deeper dive on the trade than what was previously highlighted, let’s start with what was given up.
Nick Frasso is a 27-year-old right-handed reliever who was added to the 40-man roster by the Dodgers earlier this year. He had some real helium as a starter/swingman back in 2023 before he needed labrum surgery (injuries are a common theme) and missed a year. Frasso returned in 2025 as a reliever and struggled with diminished stuff — what was once a pitcher who flirted with triple digits was now a guy sitting 94 in a shorter role — striking out just 68 and walking 42 in 77 AAA innings with a 5.49 ERA/5.68 FIP. Before the season, Bruce had him down at an Honorable Mention for the prospect rankings. This year, his velocity has ticked up two notches, which has helped his change play up, and he’s added a cutter that has been a legit weapon. A 4.74 ERA/3.96 FIP isn’t that impressive, but he struck out 40 in 27.2 innings (17 walks), has limited hard contact, and there’s a potentially useful reliever there again as he gets further away from shoulder surgery.
Landyn Vidourek is a 22-year-old outfielder, who can feasibly play all three spots. He had a relatively successful cameo at A-ball last year with a .313/.378/.463/.841 line and a 130 wRC+ in 74 PA, leading to some hope he could move quickly. For example, in a strong farm system, Bruce had him ranked at #20 in the preseason due to the power-speed-defense combo in his raw tools. Instead, Vidourek has tanked while repeating A-ball, posting a .170/.332/.311/.643 line with a 73 wRC+ while being a year older than the league. He’s walking a good amount and not chasing, but the hit-tool concerns have come to the forefront and he’s not doing damage when he makes contact. The raw tools are still there, however, and development isn’t linear so it could feasibly click at some point.
And now the return.
Seth Halvorsen is a 26-year-old right-handed relief pitcher that was a seventh-round draft pick back in 2023. He was taken as a reliever out of college, and has remained in that role as a pro.
Not unlike Frasso, he has a long history of injury issues. While in college, he had Tommy John surgery in 2019 and fractured his elbow in 2022, and after a period of health to reach the majors, he also finished his 2025 season on the IL with an elbow strain and is currently rehabbing in the minors from shoulder inflammation. It’s a lot.
As mentioned, though, he rose quickly through the ranks as a pro, making his MLB debut in 2024 and looking like a future back-end option. In 12.1 innings that year, he posted a 1.46 ERA/3.90 FIP/2.75 SIERA, striking out 13 and walking just two. However, the path wasn’t smooth sailing from there, as in 2025-26 he has posted a 4.91/5.38 FIP ERA in 58.2 innings, striking out 53 and walking 36. That gives him both injury and control red flags, which helps explain why he was obtainable for the aforementioned return.
Of course, the Dodgers were interested because Halvorsen still has the stuff to be an impact reliever. He still throws a fastball in the upper-90s, has a split from 89-91, and a slider that’s now at 85-87 or so. Both the split and the slider grade well, though the velo plays down due to not having quality carry.
In an odd and amusing at-bat against now-teammate Alex Call, he shows off the fastball and the split, and in the following clip there’s a look at the slider (that’s now a bit slower).
Arm talent isn’t the problem, obviously.
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From the Rockies’ perspective, they likely see this as an exchange of injury-prone relievers, almost like a challenge trade in a sense. They also get the one with more team control (six years versus five) and more options (three versus two), as well as a lottery ticket prospect with plus tools that they hope will be a late-bloomer.
For the Dodgers, they currently have too many outfield prospects who are performing, much less ones who aren’t. And given the injuries in the pen already, if they had thought of Frasso as something more than emergency depth, he likely would’ve made his MLB debut by now. Neither of the two were in their plans, and their only shot was likely elsewhere anyway.
Now they have a reliever in Halvorsen with the more proven track record and bigger upside that’s a tick or two in command away from being useful to them in the present as they make a run at another World Series. I’m sure on some level this seems far fetched, but Will Klein had worse command issues before he was acquired in 2025 and he ended up playing hero, so it’s worth a shot to see if they can repeat the feat. One potential adjustment is bringing his arm angle back down, as it’s up an oddly significant 11 degrees in the last two seasons. Another would be simply throwing his best two pitches (split and slider) more often instead of spamming his worst pitch (fastball) 55-65% of the time just because he throws hard.
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Zooming out a bit, while this trade doesn’t actually clear any 40-man roster room, it does feel like the beginning of the Dodgers starting to churn the margins of that roster. The coming logjam of prospects quickly moving up the ladder is well-known, and they’ll have to add guys like Josue De Paula, Christian Zazueta, and Kendall George (plus perhaps 2-3 others) to the 40-man to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft in the off-season anyway. Perhaps more relevantly to this trade, they have a bunch of players in the upper-minors levels who are stuck in limbo due to a lack of need at the big-league level, guys like Ryan Ward, Hyeseong Kim, Ronan Kopp, and Landon Knack (even Alex Freeland, really, among others). Adding further pressure to them will be the 3-4 guys coming back from the 60-day IL in the second half, not to mention Jake Cousins, Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, Bobby Miller, and Ben Casparius in the distant future. Point being, a crunch is coming later if not sooner, and they could use some reorganizing to get in a more flexible spot.
Like Frasso then, these players feel like the prime candidates — either for playing time reasons or just a change of scenery — to be moved in the prospect-type deals the Dodgers reportedly desire, and the smoke around those seem more real than the rumors of big moves that get headlines. Also like Frasso and his return in Halvorsen, those wouldn’t be the biggest splashes nor the sexiest moves, but it would result in the Dodgers being able to either acquire depth that might impact this year (backup catcher anybody?) or help them kick the can down the road a bit by adding younger prospects with upside while better diversifying the system (pitching could use a boost). Either way, this move seems like only the start, but I guess we’ll see in about two weeks.
