Dodgers reunite with reliever you never expected after Mason Miller trade

The Dodgers have been curiously inactive with less than five hours before Thursday's trade deadline. On Wednesday night, they wormed into a three-way trade with the Reds and Rays that sent catcher Hunter Feduccia to Tampa Bay and brought over two pitchers and a catcher you've probably never heard of, but otherwise they've made little progress toward improving their bullpen or finding a replacement outfielder for Michael Conforto.

On Thursday morning, they made progress in solving the former of those two problems. Per Jeff Passan, the Dodgers acquired reliever Brock Stewart from the Twins, who had also just traded rumored LA trade target Harrison Bader to the Phillies.

Stewart was a sixth-round pick for the Dodgers in 2014 and pitched 84 innings in LA from 2016 to 2019 before being DFA'd and picked up by the Blue Jays on waivers. He went to the Cubs, and then back to the Dodgers (though he never pitched in the majors during his short return stint) and finally to the Twins, where he's finally seemed to find a stride.

Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic described him as "death on right-handed hitters," which is precisely what the Dodgers need.

Dodgers reunite with reliever Brock Stewart in trade with Twins to bolster bullpen

Stewart has a 2.38 ERA in 34 innings this year after coming off the IL on April 19. He has excellent whiff and chase rates (but could use some work on the walks), and his fastball has been very hard to hit this year.

The division-rival Padres gave up a massive haul for Athletics closer Mason Miller and starter JP Sears just hours prior, in a deal that included No. 1 prospect Leo De Vries. Miller was untouchable last year, but he's battled injury and has a 3.76 ERA in almost as many innings as Stewart. Although Miller was the far bigger name to watch, the Dodgers may have gotten the far better deal here in terms of value and what they needed.

The Dodgers still need to add a bullpen arm — maybe even two — but this is a good place to start. Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers front office feel like sleeping giants who are gearing up to make a massive deal at any moment, but fans will have to settle for smaller, incremental moves until then.