Grading the Dodgers' 2025 trade deadline: Did Andrew Friedman come up short for LA?

Fans were anxiously awaiting for the Dodgers to make the huge, buzzer-beater move that would send the trade deadline into a frenzy. They did end up making a last-minute deal that will immediately impact the rotation when they sent Dustin May to the Red Sox. However, May was a semi-expected player to be moved, and the Dodgers only received prospects in return.

But where was Steven Kwan? Jhoan Duran? Maybe Pete Fairbanks, even? Where were all of those bullpen arms they were expected to buy?

All in all, the Dodgers traded five players (three major leaguers, two prospects) for seven players, including a couple of top prospects. Hunter Feduccia, James Outman, pitching prospects Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Liñan, and Dustin May all left in return for lefty pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski, righty pitcher Paul Gervase, catcher Ben Rortvedt, righty reliever Brock Stewart, outfielder Alex Call, and outfield prospects James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard.

Andrew Friedman basically admitted to going a little overboard with pitching additions in the offseason, but the theme of this trade deadline seemed to be restraint. Some pragmatism isn't an inherently bad thing, but did the Dodgers really address all of the issues that they went into the deadline with? Not really.

Dodgers get a solid C for a trade deadline performance that underwhelmed fans expecting more

The only three players who may be able to make an immediate impact on the club are Stewart and Call, and Rortvedt is a more distant possibility. With Rortvedt and Call, though, the Dodgers didn't really add, they just returned to a net zero. They traded Feduccia, the No. 3 catcher in the organization behind Smith and Rushing, and a bench outfielder in Outman. Rortvedt and Call will slot into both of those roles.

Were they upgrades? Maybe. Feduccia didn't get many chances in the majors this year but Rortvedt has been hitting terribly. Call is definitely an offensive improvement over Outman, but he also doesn't have Outman's defensive prowess.

Stewart was a necessary addition to the bullpen, and the Dodgers took advantage of the Twins' unexpected fire sale to reunite with him. They sent Outman to Minnesota, which is a tough break for him, but it's long been clear that his time with the Dodgers was running out. Getting Stewart was probably the best deal Friedman pulled off.

Tibbs, Serwinowski and Ehrhard are all ranked prospects that have slotted in at Nos. 7, 14, and 25 in the Dodgers' pipeline since they were traded. Tibbs was the Red Sox's return in their Rafael Devers trade, so Boston ostensibly gave their franchise star up for Dustin May, Jordan Hicks, and Kyle Harrison. Yikes.

The prospect return is pretty decent, but it's hard to see how Stewart and Call in particular are really going to help move the needle in the immediate future. We'll see how the rest of the chips fall between now and October.