Dodgers Trade Rumors: LA battling rivals for Jose Berrios

The Los Angeles Dodgers being 61-40 and just two games behind the Giants despite all the controversy they’ve been dealt this season is nothing short of incredible.

With that being said, injuries are starting to take their toll and the shortcomings of the club’s current available options were on full display in their previous series vs San Francisco, who took three of four from the defending champs on the road.

The Dodgers are now 5-5 in their last 10 games, and it’s become increasingly obvious that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman needs to make some moves.

Clearly in need of starting pitching and bullpen reinforcements, Los Angeles has seemingly been linked with every high-profile name who’s being shopped around.

Well, you can go ahead and add another name to the list, as the Dodgers, according to league insider Jon Morosi, are apparently in the mix for Twins starter Jose Berrios.

The only caveat? The championship-hopeful Padres are also engaged in talks with Minnesota for Berrios.

The Dodgers are reportedly battling the Padres for Jose Berrios.

We told you the Dodgers should be wary of the Padres leading up to the deadline, and those warnings have been justified thus far, as San Diego just pulled off the runaway favorite for the  biggest trade (so far) on Sunday, acquiring star utility man Adam Frazier from Pittsburgh.

The Padres, still third in the NL West, clearly don’t care about blowing past the luxury tax threshold, though another blockbuster trade could force them to move off one of their core players. Taking that into account, it’s not surprising that Eric Hosmer, who hasn’t lived up to expectations this season, is being floated around as a potential trade chip.

In any event, the Padres’ aggressiveness should alert the Dodgers in the race for Berrios, who’s enjoying another solid campaign with the Twins, posting a 3.48 ERA, 1.044 WHIP and a 3.56 FIP over 20 starts. The 27-year-old righty also owns a career-high 25.7% strikeout rate.

So, what would the Twins seek in return for Berrios? Per Dan Hayes of The Athletic, Minny is looking for two top-100 prospects and an MLB player in pre-arbitration. That seems doable, especially for a Dodgers franchise that’s long had a high-end farm system.

If they pull it off, this would simply be a gargantuan move for Los Angeles. Not only would they acquire one of the most underrated hurlers in the game, but Berrios’ presence would afford them the luxury of shifting either Tony Gonsolin or David Price back to the bullpen.

That would set everything back into place, as the Dodgers rotation has been discombobulated over the last few months. Nothing is set in stone just yet, but it seems like Berrios has a realistic chance of landing with either the Dodgers or Padres by the end of the week.

Much like LA’s season thus far, that concept is as riveting as it is petrifying.

Dodgers: 3 rival trade scenarios that would be nightmares for LAD

These three trade deadline scenarios involving the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres would be nightmares for the Los Angeles Dodgers.