The trade deadline is fast approaching, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have moves to make.
Any notion that the Dodgers would be completely unstoppable in 2025 has been thoroughly undone by their current six-game losing streak. Their offense, powerful as it may be, can go through slumps. But the bigger concern is the pitching staff.
Once again in 2025, the Dodgers' pitching staff has been more injury-stricken than any of their competitors. That means both the rotation and bullpen are on the table to receive potential trade deadline upgrades.
One baseball writer foresees a situation in which the Minnesota Twins could play ball with LA.
On Friday, Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly named Twins setup man Griffin Jax as a top potential trade fit for the Dodgers ahead of the Jul. 31 deadline.
"Los Angeles has done such a poor job at keeping its pitching healthy that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman just needs to throw a bunch of talented arms against the wall and hope enough are healthy for them to make a second consecutive World Series run," Kelly wrote.
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"Griffin Jax of the Twins would be a great fit because he can pitch the ninth inning, but HE could also be utilized in other high-leverage situations. He had a minuscule 2.03 ERA in 72 games a season ago. He's regressed to a 4.12 ERA this season, though both his 3.10 expected ERA and 1.92 FIP suggest he's been very unlucky."
Jax, 30, has a Baseball Savant page that's mostly dripping red. He needs to clean up the hard-hit rate on his fastball (which is only his tertiary pitch), but everything else indicates that he should be a dominant eighth-inning guy moving forward.
For Los Angeles, the next few weeks should be a time of exploration, calling various front offices to see which high-powered arms are available for reasonable prices. That could very well be Jax, whose Twins are looking to cut costs and already have a closer in place.
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