Dodgers lose pitcher to Tigers that sees former LA top prospect hit 60-day IL

The Dodgers quietly picked up reliever Grant Holman off of waivers on April 1 and moved Gavin Stone to the 60-day IL.

Holman was already having a whirlwind 2026 up to that point. He started the year in the Athletics organization but was DFA'ed during spring training. The Diamondbacks claimed him five days later, but he was DFA'ed again in March for the Dodgers to pick him up.

He was assigned the ACL Dodgers but didn't end up pitching in the organization before being sent off on waivers again. On Saturday, the Tigers announced that they had become the third team to claim him in this still very young year. Detroit's corresponding move involved another familiar face: former top prospect Trey Sweeney, who was transferred to the 60-day IL with a shoulder strain.

The Tigers followed the Dodgers' lead and assigned Holman to their FCL team. Both moves seemed more injury- than performance-motivated; Holman ended the 2025 season on the A's 60-day IL with rotator cuff tendinitis.

Losing Holman is far from a blow to the Dodgers' pitching depth, but it does make their initial decision to pick him up all the more baffling.

Tigers pick up reliever Grant Holman from Dodgers, move former LA top prospect Trey Sweeney to 60-day IL

Sweeney came over to the Dodgers in the 2023-2024 offseason, in the deal that sent Victor Gonzalez and Jorbit Vivas to the Yankees. He hit decently in Oklahoma City (.254 average, .761 OPS in 96 games) before being flipped to the Tigers in the 2024 trade deadline deal that brought Jack Flaherty to LA.

The Tigers haven't really been able to figure out how to bring out the former top prospect potential in Sweeney — or maybe it's just not there at all.

He was called up during Detroit's miracle run in late 2024 alongside Jace Jung, but failed to make an impression in his fully-fledged 2025 rookie season. He hit .196/.549 in 118 major league games between demotions back to Triple-A. He has yet to see any playing time this calendar year, even in spring training, as he deals with shoulder issues.

The other part of that trade, top prospect Thayron Liranzo, is still trucking along in the majors, trying to make something stick after a volatile 2025 season. Flaherty is still in Detroit after exercising his player option.

It's hard to call a winner from that trade when the Dodgers won the World Series with Flaherty, but the Tigers promptly got him back and got two prospects out of the deal. But Sweeney's (and maybe Liranzo's, time will tell) fall from grace gives the Dodgers the leg up.