After making his first 17 starts of the season like clockwork, Dustin May has helped the Dodgers’ bullpen in July by piggybacking Shohei Ohtani as the two-way star eases into his pitching routine.
May could help the Dodgers’ relievers further by moving into a full-time bullpen role once Blake Snell returns to the rotation. Snell is currently out on a minor league rehab assigment. The left-hander threw four innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday, allowing only one run.
There’s yet another way May can help the Dodgers relievers: as a trade chip.
With the Dodgers reportedly scouring the market for relievers, May is a candidate to be packaged in a trade for bullpen help, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
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One obvious question jumps out: why?
May is 6-6 with a 4.73 ERA (86 ERA+), but has been a consistent source of innings for a staff that sorely lacks them. At 27, he should be at or near his pitching prime. May is eligible for free agency after the season, which potentially limits his value to any acquiring team.
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But to get a reliever or two, the Dodgers will have to give something up. Unlike some contending teams, they might not want to raid their minor league prospect stash — a system that ranks fourth in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.
The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reported the Dodgers are reluctant to trade catcher Dalton Rushing or shortstop Alex Freeland. Adds Rosenthal: “High-A outfielders Josue De Paula and Zyhir Hope also possess considerable upside. The system, though, is stacked with other highly regarded position players. Among them: Shortstops Kellon Lindsey and Emil Morales, outfielders Eduardo Quintero, Ching-Hsien Ko and Mike Sirota, third baseman Chase Harlan.”
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President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has been through two decades’ worth of trade deadlines as an executive in Los Angeles and Tampa Bay. One of his best skills is evaluating which of his own prospects have a chance to help the Dodgers in the future and which are less likely to come back and haunt them in a trade.
There are far more examples like Yusniel Diaz, Josiah Gray, Keibert Ruiz, Willie Calhoun, Grant Holmes — all traded by the Dodgers at deadlines past — than Oneil Cruz and Yordan Alvarez, two slugging outfielders who had barely played in the Dodgers’ minor league system when they were traded as teenage prospects.
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May, in fact, was widely rumored to be part of the Dodgers’ trade package for Manny Machado in July 2018 before Diaz was packaged to Baltimore along with Zach Pop, Rylan Bannon and Dean Kremer.
If the Dodgers’ front office trades May and hugs prospects this time around, its track record has earned the benefit of the doubt.
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