CHICAGO –– After the earthquake that was Saturday’s trade for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, Monday’s trade deadline came and went for the Dodgers with only a series of more subtle aftershocks.
The team added depth at catcher with two familiar faces –– getting Ben Rortvedt from the Mets and Hunter Feduccia from the Rays –– while putting Dalton Rushing on the injured list with an elbow strain.
They bolstered their pitching staff with the acquisition of 2025 All-Star selection, but also currently injured left-hander, Kris Bubic from the Kansas City Royals, making him a late-season swingman option once he returns from elbow and shoulder problems.
They shook up their current pitching staff with an internal move, optioning Emmet Sheehan to triple-A after his latest clunker on Sunday.
And, most notably, they made no subtractions from their MLB roster, instead electing to hold onto Eric Lauer (who will retain his place in the starting rotation with Sheehan going down) and Alex Call (who remains with the club as a right-handed bat off the bench) despite exploring trades for each of them in recent days.
“I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve done, and didn’t do,” manager Dave Roberts said after the dust had settled. “For a team as talented and as deep as we are, to just add something that could move the needle and not subtract from our big league club, pretty special.”
As it pertained to Monday’s deadline day activities, Rushing’s injury had the biggest implications.
After being scratched from Sunday’s lineup with elbow discomfort, the backup-turned-starter –– who has been filling in for Will Smith during his own elongated absence with a neck injury –– did not join the Dodgers on their road trip to Chicago, staying back in Los Angeles for further evaluation on an injury that popped up during pregame catch play the day before.
Roberts described the severity of Rushing’s injury as “mild,” and was confident that the second-year slugger would return this season.
General manager Brandon Gomes added the team was still waiting on more information before it would know how much Rushing might miss.
“The biggest thing,” Gomes said, “was to make sure we felt like we had coverage with both Will and Rush out.”
The Dodgers’ solution: Reacquiring two of their former catchers, getting Rortvedt from the Mets in exchange for recently DFA’d pitcher Chayce McDermott, and Feduccia from the Rays (along with right-handed relief prospect Jacob Kmatz) for triple-A outfielder Jack Suwinski and $250,000 of international bonus pool money, per a source.
Roberts said Rortvedt is expected to join the active roster on Tuesday (Chuckie Robinson was called up in the interim for Monday’s game). The Dodgers were still deciding whether Feduccia would also join the big-league club, or be sent to triple-A for added minor-league depth.
“Both guys have had familiarity with our staff,” Gomes said. “It was really important to kind of come in and fit right into the clubhouse and know that our guys have thrown to them, or most of them have thrown to them in the past. So it was a really good fit.”
The other big change Monday was Sheehan’s demotion to triple-A, which came on the heels of a 2 ⅔-inning, five-run start on Sunday that raised his season ERA to 5.29.
Roberts said the Dodgers wanted to give the 26-year-old right-hander a reset, amid his season-long struggles to find consistent mechanics this year.
For now, Sheehan will remain stretched out as a starter in the minors, though he is also a candidate to return to the Dodgers a late-season relief option (the same role he served in last year’s playoffs).
“A lot of this year, we’ve seen flashes of really good, and then some inconsistencies,” Gomes said. “Nobody obviously ever wants to be sent down. But I think this is an opportunity to hit the reset button, get him in a really good place, and then make sure that he’s a weapon for us moving forward.”
As a result, Lauer not only stayed with the Dodgers through the deadline, but also kept his spot in their starting rotation. Previously, the veteran left-hander was set to move into a bulk relief role in the wake of Skubal’s arrival. But now, he will follow Skubal’s team debut on Tuesday by starting Wednesday’s game.
Call also survived a week of trade rumors, with the Dodgers ultimately deciding not (or, at least, failing to find a way) to flip him elsewhere for a potential prospect.
“I really give our front office a lot of credit, just kind of talking to those guys consistently and getting a grasp on their wishes,” Roberts said. “Both those guys really wanted to be here.”
As for the team’s surprise addition, the Dodgers added some late-season pitching depth with Bubic, who is on track to return to action around the end of August, according to a source with knowledge of his recovery, and has experience in his seven-year career as both a starter (including last year when he made the All-Star Game) and bulk reliever.
Gomes said Bubic began ramping up with a bullpen session on Sunday, and that the team’s plan right now is to bring him back in a bullpen role.
“We know what he’s capable of,” Gomes said. “Our plan right now is to run him out as a reliever and just get him healthy and try to get him back to that version [of himself he was] prior to this year.”
