Andrew Friedman spent the winter saying he didn’t want to do this. The Dodgers’ president of baseball operations called buying at the deadline “terrible” and backed it up by spending $107 million on relievers — Tanner Scott for four years and $72 million, Kirby Yates for one at $13 million, Blake Treinen retained. The bullpen was supposed to be solved by March.
It wasn’t. And now the Dodgers are doing the thing Friedman said he hated, with the urgency of a team whose closer just left an MRI tube.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that rival executives believe the Dodgers plan to be “greedy” at the July 31 trade deadline, motivated by the chance to become the first National League franchise to win three consecutive World Series. Nightengale writes that the biggest surprise would be if Los Angeles doesn’t acquire another closer, noting the club has “checked in with virtually every team for bullpen help.”
The numbers explain why. The Dodgers’ bullpen ranks 24th in the majors with a 4.35 ERA and has logged more innings than any relief corps in baseball — 446⅔ and counting. That workload is a direct consequence of a rotation that has been patched together all season, and a relief unit that keeps losing bodies.
Scott landed on the injured list with left elbow inflammation, though his MRI revealed no ligament damage — a best-case scenario that still leaves the ninth inning unmanned. Evan Phillips is done for the year. Michael Kopech has barely pitched. Blake Treinen has been out since April. Brusdar Graterol hasn’t thrown a single pitch after shoulder surgery. Rookie Ben Casparius exited Tuesday night’s game with what he called “unbearable” calf cramps and is scheduled for his own MRI.
Yates, the All-Star signed to lock down late innings, has already allowed six home runs — twice his entire 2024 total. Opponents are hitting .278 and slugging .519 against his signature splitter, a pitch that held hitters to a .114 average last season. The collapse of that pitch alone has turned a $13 million insurance policy into a liability.
General manager Brandon Gomes acknowledged the pivot. “Our stance hasn’t changed on needing to go out and get additional pieces,” he told The Athletic. Manager Dave Roberts was more direct: “If there’s a trade that needs to be made for a high-leverage guy, we’ll do that. We’ve had some good success with that.”
The targets read like an All-Star roster. Minnesota’s Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax, Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith, Baltimore’s Félix Bautista, and Pittsburgh’s David Bednar have all been linked to the Dodgers. Nightengale also reports interest in Twins outfielder Harrison Bader and Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan, addressing a lineup that has produced a .636 OPS in July — second-worst in the majors during a stretch where the club has lost 10 of 13.
USA Today floated Detroit’s Tarik Skubal as a potential rotation blockbuster, though that would require a prospect haul the Dodgers have been reluctant to empty. The Athletic reports that catcher Dalton Rushing and infielder Alex Freeland, the two most big-league-ready position prospects in the system, are considered unlikely to be moved.
The price tags are steep. Virtually every top relief arm available comes with multiple years of club control, which inflates acquisition costs well beyond rental rates. “The prices are always crazy come the deadline,” Gomes said — an understatement from a man whose boss built a $107 million bullpen specifically to avoid this conversation.
The Dodgers sit at 61-44, leading the NL West, still projected among baseball’s best rosters. They don’t have to make a move to contend. But the gap between what Friedman planned for in November and what his bullpen has delivered through July has turned discretion into a luxury the Dodgers can no longer afford.
Sources
- Yahoo Sports / The Sporting News — Dodgers believed to have ‘greedy’ trade deadline plan
- The Athletic — Dodgers’ trade deadline priorities amid bullpen crisis
- Yahoo Sports / ClutchPoints — Bob Nightengale’s trade deadline surprise claim
- Heavy.com — Dodgers expected to buy bullpen help at deadline
- Dodgers Way — Nightmare scenarios at the 2025 trade deadline