Players the Dodgers should target via trade to make sure they win it all in 2020

Marco Gonzales

The Dodgers missed out on all the big name free agent pitchers this offseason, such as Gerrit Cole and Madison Bumgarner, while losing Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kenta Maeda, and Rich Hill.

They did bring in Price and Alex Wood, though the rotation is not as deep as it was at the end of 2019, especially considering Wood is coming off a down year. Julio Urias, Dustin May, and/or Tony Gonsolin could play a bigger role, yet the team should consider bringing in an established major league starter.

Looking at the non-contenders, there aren’t many names to get excited about, so I went with Marco Gonzales. The Seattle Mariners aren’t going anywhere any time soon, so they may be open to dealing the 28-year-old southpaw. Last year, Gonzales led the league in starts while posting a 3.99 ERA and winning 16 games after posting a 4.00 ERA in 2018.

Gonzales would be a nice, reliable depth piece and would probably slot into the third or fourth spot in the starting rotation — behind Kershaw and Buehler — depending on how well Price pitches. He also would give them another option to start in the postseason should some of the younger arms not work out for this year.

I considered a few other names here. There’s Jeff Samardzija, who is coming off a solid 2019, though it’s hard to say what the Dodgers would get from him since he’s had such an up-and-down career. Not to mention, the rival Dodgers and Giants may not want to get together on a trade.