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Dodgers: Don’t get your hopes up for trading for these 3 players

By Thomas Carannante |
CLEVELAND, OHIO - JUNE 13: Kendall Graveman #49 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during a game against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on June 13, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - JUNE 13: Kendall Graveman #49 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during a game against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on June 13, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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Kendall Graveman #49 of the Seattle Mariners (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Kendall Graveman #49 of the Seattle Mariners (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

You better bet the Los Angeles Dodgers will be active at the trade deadline. It’s just unclear to what extent at this point. Bullpen arm? Sure. Outfield help? Perhaps. Rotation depth? Uhhh, looking like it!

The problem is that Andrew Friedman is going to have to get very creative. So many of this year’s trade candidates reside within the NL West with the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks. There’s almost no chance either of those teams opt to fortify the defending World Series champs unless they’re getting a franchise-altering haul in return.

As for the other players available (or potentially available)? There’s going to be a lot of demand.

So many other teams the rest of the league wasn’t expecting to contend (Giants, Cubs, Red Sox, Nationals, etc.) will likely be buyers in some capacity, which means sellers will be rolling in the offers.

Additionally, a number of players have suffered injuries, affecting who might be on the block in the coming weeks. Five weeks, in fact! Can you believe it?!

So who can we likely rule out for the Dodgers at this point?

Don’t get your hopes up for the Dodgers trading for these three players.

3. Kendall Graveman

This one’s two-fold. The first is because the Seattle Mariners are (kind of) contending? Are we sure they’re going to sell? At 39-37, they’re right in the thick of it, and if they can rattle off a nice winning streak between now and July 31, trading their best reliever may not be in the cards.

And even if they were open to it, the Dodgers probably wouldn’t be willing to pay the price given how Kendall Graveman has potentially been the best reliever in the game. Yup, it’s true. His transformation from starter to reliever really didn’t take long.

Through 19 games, the right-hander owns a 1.25 ERA and 0.65 WHIP (what?!) with six saves and 21 strikeouts in 21.2 innings of work. He’s given up just 10 hits and issued only four walks. His power sinker is ridiculous. His slider is filthy. He’s also got a changeup and a fastball, but he’s been throwing his sinker (61.8%) and slider (20.8%) an overwhelming majority of the time. He’s a completely new pitcher.

The Dodgers need bullpen help, but Friedman is not going to surrender an arm and a leg (that is, if Graveman’s even available) for a guy who’s thrown about 30 career relief innings. Look for Ian Kennedy or maybe Richard Rodriguez here.

Matthew Boyd #48 of the Detroit Tigers (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Matthew Boyd #48 of the Detroit Tigers (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

2. Matthew Boyd

Last week, the Tigers made it known Matthew Boyd would not be pitching for the next month as he deals with tendinitis and inflammation in his throwing arm. Not good.

Before that, the left-hander seemed like the perfect acquisition for the Dodgers. On a floundering Tigers team, Boyd rediscovered his form through his first 13 starts, registering a 3.44 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with 56 strikeouts in 70.2 innings of work.

At the very least, the Dodgers probably wouldn’t have had to give up a prohibitive haul here, and Boyd could’ve filled a much-needed spot in the rotation before likely joining the bullpen for the postseason. The value of Boyd in the ‘pen for October can’t be understated, either. He could’ve helped the Dodgers save face in games where their starters weren’t able to get the job done or help them preserve their top relievers for the later innings.

What a shame, because his peripherals were nice, too. He was getting a lot of batters to chase, he was missing barrels and avoiding hard contact, and his walk rate is in the 77th percentile.

Welp, kiss Boyd goodbye, because this is a risk the Dodgers cannot take, and at this point the Tigers are likely going to ride it out with their lefty.

Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

1. Max Scherzer

The dream is dead … for now. Actually, it probably wasn’t ever alive because it’s hard to envision the Nationals, even if they had fallen far out of contention, dealing their ace to a fellow NL “rival.” Now, at 36-36 after winning 10 of their last 11 games, the Nationals sit second in the NL East and might just go for it one last time.

Max Scherzer has been the dream rumor for so many other contenders. He’s never been on the block, but it’s been speculated general manager Mike Rizzo could dangle him if things got bad in the nation’s capital. It’s not like moving Mad Max would’ve hurt Washington either. He would have gotten the Nats more pieces to help build around Juan Soto and Trea Turner. They would’ve simply expanded their window with an expiring contract while sending off Scherzer to a contender for a better life in the season’s final two months.

Could things change in five weeks? Sure. But right now, Kyle Schwarber is quite literally the hottest hitter on the planet. Joe Ross, Erik Fedde and Jon Lester have all been serviceable. Patrick Corbin is doing much better after a disastrous start. Trea Turner is having a career year. We might be witnessing a Ryan Zimmerman renaissance.

For all those reasons, Scherzer is firmly off the table right now, and probably will be through July 31. If the Dodgers want to bolster the rotation in some way, they’ll have to look toward Kyle Gibson or Michael Pineda most likely.

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