Dodgers Rumors: LA Interested in Tigers’ Starter Matthew Boyd

With less than three weeks remaining until the trade deadline, the Dodgers have been linked to another pitcher. This time it’s Tigers’ starter, Matthew Boyd.

According to the Detroit News, the Dodgers are interested in Tigers’ starting pitcher Matthew Boyd.  The 28-year-old southpaw starter is in the midst of a career season and the Tigers could be looking to add more prospects to their rebuild and capitalize on Boyd’s breakout season.

Boyd has a career ERA of 4.84 but has been much better this season posting an ERA of 3.87 in eighteen starts for the Tigers.  Matthew has allowed similar averages to right-handed and left-handed hitters with a .243 average allowed to lefties and a .241 average allowed to right-handed hitters.

The big difference is that Boyd has been much more prone to give up home runs to right-handed hitters.  He has allowed nineteen home runs in 2019 and sixteen of them have come off the bats of right-handed batters.  Boyd has increased his strikeout rate this season to 11.9 K/9IP while lower his walk rate to just 1.68 BB/9IP.

Matthew is primarily a fastball-slider pitcher but offers three other pitches he uses less often which are a sinker, change, and curveball.  His fastball has averaged 92 MPH while his slider averages 80 MPH.  Contract wise he makes 2.6 million this season with three years of arbitration remaining.

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This is the first starting pitcher that the Dodgers have been linked to this July and it will be interesting to see if any other starting pitchers get linked to LA, particularly arch-nemesis Madison Bumgarner. Marcus Stroman is another starting pitcher rumored to be on the trading block.

With Rich Hill unlikely to return until September, there is a chance the Dodgers could need another playoff starter if they keep Julio Urias in the bullpen.  Given the lack of elite relievers that may be available, adding a starting pitcher and keeping Urias in the bullpen is one way that Andrew Friedman could keep the bullpen strong.

The Dodgers could also move Kenta Maeda to the bullpen if another starting pitcher like Boyd was acquired which would give them a rotation of Ryu, Kershaw, Buehler, Boyd, and Stripling. The tightly contested NL Central and race for second place in the NL West has created a big group of contenders for the National League’s two wildcard spots.

It’s not yet known what the asking price would be from the Tigers but the Dodgers should be able to acquire Matthew Boyd without giving up any of their top four starting pitchers.  If the Tigers added on to the deal with a reliever like Shane Greene, then the Tigers could potentially net one of the Dodgers’ top four prospects.  This is just the latest rumor in what will be a barrage of rumors to come.