Dodgers urged to trade for $5.7 million Rays starter to boost rotation

The Los Angeles Dodgers can never seem to have quite enough starting pitching to make it through a season.

Since Opening Day, the Dodgers have lost Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and Tony Gonsolin to the injured list. They've still got some options in-house, but if the playoffs started today, it's hard to say who, other than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, would get the starts. 

The Dodgers clearly have plenty of star power, even if too much of it is on the injured list. They need a reliable innings-eater at the trade deadline who can stay healthy for the rest of the regular season, even if they're not putting up Cy Young-caliber numbers.

One baseball writer is urging the Dodgers to look into a certain Tampa Bay Rays starter.

On Wednesday, Clutchpoints' RB Hayek named the Rays' Zack Littell, who will be a free agent at the end of the season and is on just a $5.7 million salary this year, as an ideal Dodgers trade candidate.

"Littell has been productive this season, going 6-7 with a 3.78 ERA over 16 starts for the Rays. No, he isn't a dominant starting pitcher. But he is the exact arm the Dodgers could mold into postseason success," Hayek wrote.

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"Remember, this is the same team that won the World Series with just three starting pitchers. If the Dodgers were to get Littell, they would have a surplus of pitchers and be able to mix and match them wherever they want in the playoffs. It would also help them in tight games against the Philadelphia Phillies or New York Mets, should they meet either team."

With only 66 strikeouts in 97 2/3 innings, Littell is far from a power arm. But that second figure is far more important, because Yamamoto and Dustin May are the only Dodgers pitchers with more than 60 innings under their belts.

At this point, the Dodgers have proven they can juggle a pitching staff well enough to get by in the playoffs. The healthier that pitching staff can be going into October, though, the more effective it will be. That's where an acquisition like Littell could make all the difference.

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