The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed in principle to trade for Tampa Bay Rays starter Tyler Glasnow, league sources told The Athletic, the latest move for a franchise that has already transformed the offseason.
The deal, sources said, will send Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot to the Dodgers for right-hander Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca. The deal is pending a physical and contingent upon Glasnow agreeing to a contract extension, which is expected.
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The Dodgers, who already landed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani on a record-setting, sport-shattering 10-year, $700 million deal, had indicated more moves could be coming. Ohtani, who won’t be able to pitch until at least 2025, structured his deal with unprecedented deferrals to give the Dodgers the opportunity to keep adding even after he made his decision to join, as The Athletic reported Monday.
That Ohtani pursuit, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called the organization’s “top priority” last week, did not address what remains the club’s biggest area of need: pitching.
It’s why they are among the finalists to land Ohtani’s fellow Japanese star, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whom the club met with on Tuesday in Los Angeles. In addition to Glasnow, the Dodgers have been in discussions with the White Sox about Dylan Cease, according to people familiar with the situation. The Dodgers are as pitching-starved as they’ve been in recent memory and are looking to supplement their depth. Behind Walker Buehler, who is coming off a second Tommy John surgery and could have a delayed start to 2024, the staff features several arms with less than a year of service time.
Given the Dodgers’ glut of position-player prospects who appear major-league ready but don’t have a clear fit on this year’s roster, the trade market always appeared to be a logical entry point for more pitching. Adding Ohtani, and blocking even more playing time for those players, made them even more expendable.
“We have a really deep and talented farm system, which allows for us to have those conversations,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said last week.
Glasnow represents the first pitching domino. Dodgers officials remarked recently that the 30-year-old right-hander was a logical fit, with the Dodgers well capable of taking on his $25 million salary in 2024 before he was scheduled to hit the open market. The pending extension will now keep that from happening.
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While injuries are a concern, the extension comes after a season in which Glasnow made a career-high 21 starts, putting together a 3.53 ERA and striking out 162 in a career-best 120 innings. There are few starters in the sport that boast as tantalizing an arsenal, from his mid-90s fastball to his slider and curveball, which have elite movement, to his ability to extend down the mound with his long frame.
Conversations between the two sides continued through the Winter Meetings, a week that included a soirée with Dodgers and Rays officials hosted by country music star Brad Paisley, before talks intensified. While clubs like the Cubs, Reds, Angels and at least one other team expressed interest in Glasnow, the Dodgers long seemed to be an ideal fit.
Moving Pepiot, who still has five years of club control, means the Dodgers might need to keep adding, be it Yamamoto or otherwise. The 26-year-old right-hander had the best stretch of his brief big-league career in the final months, finishing with a 2.14 ERA in 42 innings as he harnessed his at-times erratic strike-throwing and rediscovered his changeup. Pepiot figured to be the club’s No. 3 starter behind Buehler and Bobby Miller this coming spring.
Moving DeLuca, who emerged from being a 25th-round pick to make his major-league debut last season, allows the Dodgers to address another of their offseason needs more immediately. The club has been in the market for a right-handed hitter who can at least dabble in center field, expressing interest in the likes of Kiké Hernández, Michael A. Taylor, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and others, according to sources. Margot, 29, is owed $10 million next season (and has a $12 million mutual option for 2025) and brings with him a career .760 OPS against left-handed pitching and a track record of playing center field (though his metrics are much better in a corner outfield spot).
Ohtani was the biggest domino. Glasnow, at 6-foot-8, might be the tallest. The Dodgers expect more pieces to keep falling into place.
(Photo of Tyler Glasnow: Jesse Johnson/USA Today)
