3 Dodgers players who should be on trade block before Opening Day

1 of 3

As the Dodgers wade into spring training and look to make roster cuts to get their roster down to 26 players before Opening Day, there are 22 players on the 40-man who have minor league options, and while some are destined for the 60-day IL (Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May) and others are locks for the 26-man (Will Smith, James Outman, Brusdar Graterol), the Dodgers will surely be exercising their options on a majority of them before they head to Seoul on March 20.

However, minor-league options aren't the only avenue they can consider to trim players. Trades are always on the table, and even though the Dodgers wouldn't be adding any more superstars who are guaranteed Opening Day roles, they could net a few depth options to send straight to the minors and possibly depend on later in the season when baseball gets into the dog days.

3 Dodgers players who should be on trade block before Opening Day

Manuel Margot

Margot was sort of lost in the shuffle of the Dodgers' many pickups this offseason. He was tacked onto the Rays-Dodgers trade that led to Tyler Glasnow's extension, which sort of took up all of the air in the room. However, Margot isn't a player to sniff at; if he were on another team, he could have a good argument to be an everyday outfielder. With the Dodgers, he'll be expected to play second fiddle to Jason Heyward, James Outman, and Teoscar Hernández, while also shuffling around Chris Taylor, who will get starts all over the field this year.

He's never been a power threat, but he hits for average, doesn't strike out very much, and can be a stolen base threat. He has also had elite defensive years when he's stayed healthy. He doesn't really fit into the Dodgers' bigger picture -- not with the kind of lineup they've constructed -- but he could be valuable as a trade piece, perhaps for the teams that miss out on Cody Bellinger and are still looking for an outfielder close to Opening Day?

If the Dodgers could flip him for a player like Ryan Pepiot, who they sent to Tampa in the return for Glasnow and Margot, LA could get a promising young player to develop and a trade partner could get a serviceable everyday outfielder.

Ryan Yarbrough

Yarbrough, another former Ray, placed fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 for his nearly 150 innings pitched and 3.91 ERA, but he's never quite lived up to the promise those votes held for him. He did throw a complete game in 2021 against the Yankees where he only gave up two runs, but he's battled injuries since that, which have mostly kept him in the bullpen ever since. He was DFA'ed and then non-tendered by the Rays in 2022, then signed a one-year deal with the Royals for 2023 before being traded to the Dodgers. He pitched almost 40 innings in LA last year and didn't see much improvement to his ERA, but his walk rate stayed exceptionally low and his strikeout rate went up.

The Dodgers might've hoped he would be another reclamation project for them, but things haven't quite panned out that way. To be fair, 40 innings might not be the best judge of what he could be capable of with a little more magic from the Dodgers' pitching staff, and he did rely more heavily on his curveball to some nice effect against righty bats, but he does seem like one of the weaker arms of the Dodgers' many relief options.

The team could shape him up a little more in spring training to turn him over to another team and let them take a crack at unlocking the potential he showed in his rookie year and has occasionally demonstrated throughout his career, all while netting a few more possible reclamation projects for themselves.

Michael Grove

A second-round draft pick for the Dodgers in 2018, Grove was their No. 23 prospect in 2022 before he was called up. He pitched 29 innings in the majors for a 4.60 ERA before being sent down again. There have been much worse debut years (Gavin Stone had a 9.00 ERA last year), and the Dodgers presumably liked what they saw enough to put him on the Opening Day roster in 2023 as their fifth starter. Back then, the rotation included also Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, Noah Syndergaard, and Dustin May — ah, different times. Walker Buehler was out after Tommy John and the Dodgers hadn't called up Bobby Miller yet, which gave Grove a chance to make an impression.

He started four games in April and was promptly lit up. During his second start, he gave up 12 hits and nine earned runs over 3 1/3 innings and was sent down for all of May. Things looked better but not great in June, though he stayed on the major league roster and the Dodgers kept giving him the ball for starts ... until August, when he was kicked back to the bullpen and was able to keep everything scoreless in 1-2 inning stretches. He finished the season with a 6.13 ERA.

Grove is still young and has a promising slider that performed well last year, so he could be on the block as a trade option for prospects if another team thinks that they can shape him up into a serviceable bullpen arm. It's a little disappointing for the Dodgers, who also seem to be losing faith in top-ranked prospect Miguel Vargas, but their bullpen is pretty stacked as it is.

manual

Home / LA Dodgers News