The Los Angeles Dodgers are consistently one of the most active teams in all of Major League Baseball when it comes to adding to their roster. They do not sit on their hands. If they feel the need to address a need or add a player, they make it happen.
Dodgers president Andrew Friedman has stated that he does not like to make moves at the deadline, and he hopes that he will not have to this year in July. The asking price for player acquisition goes way up, and typically becomes too steep.
However, with the way the Dodgers’ pitching staff currently looks, he may not have an option.
With 14 pitchers on the injured list, they currently have gotten the 3rd fewest innings out of their starting pitching. Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki all sit on the injured list, and Shohei Ohtani is still roughly a month away from making his pitching debut in a Dodgers uniform.
Los Angeles Dodgers Starting Pitching Woes
Will they need to acquire more starting pitching before the MLB Trade Deadline?
Los Angeles Dodgers insider for The Athletic, Fabian Ardaya suggested a potential trade target for the Dodgers that could fortify their starting rotation.
“They’ll have the ammunition to get most deals done. Perhaps they are the team that thinks it can get Sandy Alcantara right after struggling in his return from Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers tried to pry Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers last year before swinging a deal with them for Jack Flaherty,” Ardaya writes.
Alcantara missed all of last season due to Tommy John surgery. Prior to that, he had a solid 2023 campaign and an All-Star 2022 season. In that 2022 season, he went 14-9 and had an impressive 2.28 ERA with a WAR of 8.0.
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Unfortunately, since the surgery, he has been a disaster on the mound. So far this year, he is 3-7 with a brutal 7.14 ERA. He also has a WHIP of 1.492.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a history of taking talented, struggling players and getting the most out of them. Could Alcantara be the next?
A lot will ride on these next three weeks or so. If Snell, Glasnow, and Sasaki can all get healthy and back to form, they may not need to deal for a starting pitcher. But if this doesn’t happen, and if Ohtani continues to get delayed, then Alcantara could be an option out there with one of the highest ceilings.