The Los Angeles Dodgers can’t seem to keep enough starting pitchers healthy to fill out a rotation, no matter how many new stars they sign in any particular offseason.
After adding Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki this winter, the Dodgers were supposed to have the most overpowering rotation in recent baseball history. Instead, Snell, Sasaki, and Tyler Glasnow have all hit the injured list, with Sasaki becoming the most recent addition earlier this week.
Fortunately, there’s no doubt among Dodgers fans that the team will add starting pitching ahead of the trade deadline if they need it. LA went out and got Jack Flaherty, who started two of the five games in the 2024 World Series, on deadline day last July.
One baseball writer believes that the Dodgers’ version of the Flaherty trade could involve another American League Central team this season.
On Thursday, Jon Conahan of Athlon named Kansas City Royals All-Star Seth Lugo, who is turning into one of the most reliable starters in the league in his mid-thirties, as a long-shot trade candidate for the Dodgers this season.
“While it isn’t a guarantee that Lugo will be available, as the Kansas City Royals have played decent baseball to start the year, the veteran would be exactly what the Dodgers have targeted,” Conahan wrote.
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“The Louisiana native could be a free agent at the end of the year, given that he has a player option, so this could be a rental. If the move is to simply try to win a World Series right now, which it is, the Dodgers make a lot of sense as a landing spot.”
Lugo made the AL All-Star team last season and posted a 3.00 ERA in 206 2/3 innings pitched, finishing second in Cy Young Award voting. He’s on the exact same path this year, with a 3.02 ERA in an AL-best 56 2/3 innings pitched.
An innings-eater is becoming one of the league’s most valuable commodities, so even entering his age-36 season in 2026, it seems like a lock that Lugo will opt out. That means if the Royals do unexpectedly fall apart, it’s not far-fetched to think he could be traded.
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