Giants just blew up Dodgers in relief market with insane Taylor Rogers return

The trade deadline is mere hours away, and the highly competitive reliever market had yet to really shape up going into Wednesday afternoon. The Dodgers are expected to be among the many contenders fighting over a precious few elite relievers, considering injuries and underperformance plaguing the bullpen. They've been connected to basically everyone who's available but have yet to make a move, and a division rival definitely just made Andrew Friedman's life harder.

On Wednesday, the Giants traded Tyler Rogers to the Mets in exchange for José Buttó and two prospects, No. 10 Blade Tidwell and No. 12 Drew Gilbert (per MLB Pipeline).

Rogers has been excellent for the Giants this year, with a 1.80 ERA in 50 innings and a league-leading 53 games, but he's a free agent at the end of the season. If a major league-ready player and two top-15 prospects is what it takes to get a rental? The Twins are going to ask the Dodgers to sell the farm for Jhoan Duran, their top relief target.

Buster Posey has already pulled off the deal of the year for Rafael Devers, but even with his Giants most likely out of the playoff picture, he's found a way to complicate matters for his division rivals.

Buster Posey, Giants just made Dodgers' pursuit of relievers even harder by goading Mets into steep price for Taylor Rogers

Duran has been similarly dominant in almost as many innings as Rogers, but Duran has two years of team control left after this one. If the Dodgers were to shift to, say, David Bednar, he still has a year of arbitration left, too. Even Ryan Helsley, who would be a rental, could command a massive return for the Cardinals if this is what teams are willing to pay for relievers.

Friedman has said many times that his least favorite thing to do is overpay for a reliever at the deadline, but he's absolutely going to have to this year. Even if the Dodgers can fix Alexis Díaz, even if Kirby Yates finds his stuff again, even if Dustin May stays on the team and in the bullpen and manages to carve out a niche there — the Dodgers still need relievers.

They're never not in win-now mode and should still be willing to pay whatever price it's going to take, but they'll do it through gritted teeth and while cursing Posey and the Giants.