Projected to be one of the deepest rotations in recent memory, the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation has been decimated by injury in the first two months.
Just a few weeks into the season, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell went down with shoulder inflammation that eventually landed him on the 60-day IL and oft-injured All-Star Tyler Glasnow joined him on the sidelines a few weeks later with the same injury. 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki was also placed on the injured list with his own shoulder injury, but not before he walked nearly as many batters as he struck out while displaying a massive velocity drop from his days in Japan.
The pitchers they do have available, meanwhile, haven’t been able to pick up the slack. Dustin May has been inconsistent in his return from Tommy John surgery and an esophageal tear, while Tony Gonsolin has also struggled to find his footing after returning from his own Tommy John surgery. Future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw was rocked in his season debut, rarely touching 90 miles per hour with his fastball and allowing five runs to the lowly Los Angeles Angels. The only bright spot has been Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has a 1.86 ERA through his first ten starts, but his dominance has been offset by disastrous spot starts from the likes of Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Bobby Miller.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, their lineup and bullpen have been able to keep them atop the National League West, and they have enough firepower in the farm system to upgrade their rotation at the trade deadline. Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta and former Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara may be the most obvious fit, but Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer believes they have the pieces necessary to take a swing for Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Paul Skenes.
“Their farm system is always deep and, as the most preeminent money-printing franchise in MLB, the question of whether they could afford to lock up the Fullerton native would hardly be a question at all," Rymer wrote.
At just 23 years old and coming off an unforgettable rookie season in which he finished third in the Cy Young Award voting, Skenes may be the most valuable pitching asset in the game right now, and he has gotten off to another dominant start in 2025 with a 2.44 ERA through his first 10 starts. Unfortunately for Skenes, the Pirates haven’t been able to build a competitive team around him, as they currently sit in last place in the National League Central with a 16-33 record. While a talented young starting rotation actually ranks third in baseball with 23 quality starts, the lineup has been among the worst in baseball, ranked last in Major League Baseball with a .216 batting average and second-to-last with 33 home runs.
While it still seems wildly unlikely the Pirates would trade one of the best young starters in recent memory, Rymer’s proposed trade would add three top hitting prospects to their system in catcher/outfielder Dalton Rushing (MLB Pipeline’s 15th-ranked prospect), outfielder Josue De Paula (33), and shortstop Alex Freeland (48). The 24-year-old Rushing would immediately slot in the middle of the Pirates' lineup after slashing .308/.424/.514 in Triple-A and earning an MLB callup, and while De Paula is only in High-A, he has continued to establish himself as one of the highest-upside hitting prospects in baseball with a .285/.417/.511 line as a 19-year-old in High-A. Freeland, meanwhile, would be an excellent third piece of the trade as a high-floor middle-infielder who will likely be able to contribute to a big-league team by the end of the season.
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