3 Dodgers whose 40-man roster spots are in jeopardy as MLB trade deadline approaches

The MLB trade deadline can help bring new talent into the fold for the Dodgers, but it will also bring an end to several tenures in LA.

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Los Angeles Dodgers v Tampa Bay Rays / Julio Aguilar/GettyImages
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The Los Angeles Dodgers should undoubtedly be buyers at the 2023 MLB trade deadline. This team is good enough to win a World Series this season as long as the inconsistencies on the roster are solved. That is exactly what the deadline is for.

Los Angeles will naturally improve in some areas as the team gets healthier, but not adding via the trade market would be irresponsible. After all, Andrew Friedman himself admitted the Dodgers need to add pitching in some capacity during the season.

Each acquisition presents another issue, though. Not only do the Dodgers have to trade away farm system talent to get big-league help, but the team also has to make room for the new additions. As a result, players currently on the 40-man roster and/or big-league club could get the boot.

3 Dodgers whose 40-man roster spot is in jeopardy because of the MLB trade deadline

Trayce Thompson

The Dodgers struck lightning in a bottle in 2022 when the team brought in Trayce Thompson. Thompson proved to be one of the more reliable bench bats, coming through in several key moments down the stretch.

It was shocking, because Thompson's MLB career really looked like it was over. The brother of Klay Thompson was struggling immensely and could not hold onto an MLB job. The best thing that could have happened to him was the Dodgers scooping him up and maximizing his potential for any period of time.

The success has not carried over to 2023, though. Outside of a three-homer game, Thompson has been awful for the Dodgers this season. He's hitting .155 with a .677 OPS with a staggering 42.5% strikeout rate in 87 plate appearances.

Thompson is currently on the 60-day IL, so he is not taking up a 40-man roster spot at this very moment. Maybe the Dodgers do him a favor and leave him on the 60-day IL just to keep him around, but if he wants to play, it's going to have to be for another team.

Noah Syndergaard

The Dodgers are the best team in the league at finding broken-down pitchers and making them valuable. Heck, the team somehow did the impossible and turned Shelby Miller into a productive reliever this season. Miller has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball in recent years, so that's a massive accomplishment.

If a pitcher cannot figure it out with the Dodgers, then that's a really bad indication of where their career is heading. Noah Syndergaard has not only failed to figure it out with the Dodgers, but has statistically been arguably the worst starting pitcher in all of baseball.

Syndergaard is sporting a staggering 7.16 ERA in his 12 starts this season. The Dodgers have lost eight of the 12 games that he has started with one of the wins being against the Brewers, where Syndergaard left early and only threw one inning.

The right-hander currently on the 15-day IL and Dave Roberts has seemingly confirmed that he does not have a future with the Dodgers. And why would he? There's no real point in having him pitch in the minors to figure it out with all of the young talent in the organization.

As unfortunate as it is, this could be the end of the road for Syndergaard as an MLB pitcher. Maybe a team will take a flier on him as a minor leaguer, but it's hard to buy into a pitcher who has over a 7.00 ERA with a team that is notorious for developing/fixing pitchers. The Dodgers will look to upgrade his spot in the rotation by the deadline without a doubt.

Michael Busch

Michael Busch's destiny is a tad different than Thompson's or Syndergaard's. Thompson and Syndergaard will likely be looking for a new MLB team if they are not on the Dodgers' 40-man roster in two months' time. Busch will not be in the same boat, as he could be traded in a potential package.

The Dodgers have a lot of talent to trade at the deadline in order to bring in big-league help. Of all the tradeable prospects this summer, Busch seems like the most likely to be dealt in some capacity. The price still has to be right, but the way the Dodgers have handled Busch says it all.

Busch has been fantastic in Triple-A Oklahoma City this season but has only gotten an extended chance with the big-league club when Max Muncy hit the IL. Once Muncy returned, the Dodgers had no problem sending him back down to OKC in place of Yonny Hernandez.

Why? The team wants him to continue to get regular at-bats instead of sitting on the bench and hitting once every three days. Busch also looks much better as a trade chip when he's hitting over .300 in the minors instead of sitting on the bench and batting .200 at the MLB level.

Plus, Busch is a tad redundant with what the Dodgers have in terms of left-handed hitting. LA already has Muncy and Freeman as left-handed hitters in the infield and Gavin Lux will only add to that in 2024 when he returns from his ACL injury.

At 25 years old, Busch is ready to test his abilities with a full-time MLB role and the Dodgers aren't giving that to him. Typically, when the Dodgers treat prospects like this, it means they're probably going to get shipped out of town.

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