The Dodgers didn’t need Eduardo Rodriguez after all

No Eduardo Rodriguez, no regrets: The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be doing just fine after missing out on their top trade target.

This should come with a preface: It’s only the start of August. The trade deadline was just a week ago. Calling any player the “best pickup of the deadline” would be premature unless that player was Shohei Ohtani.

Ahead of the second half of the MLB season, pundits were nonetheless quick to write up analyses of the best and worst transactions at the trade deadline, and the Los Angeles Dodgers got a very favorable review.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, newly acquired Dodgers veteran pitchers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly are making the franchise forget all about he-who-must-not-be-named, Eduardo Rodriguez.

This MLB trade deadline was marked by one of the biggest trades that never happened: Detroit Tigers’ Eduardo Rodriguez, one of the best remaining starting pitchers on the market, nixed a deal to LA reportedly because he didn’t want to move to the West Coast.

This weekend, the Dodgers swept the failed Rodriguez deal under the rug and focused on the players they did end up getting, White Sox arms Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly.

Dodgers aren’t dwelling on failed Eduardo Rodriguez trade

On Sunday, Lance Lynn got his second start in a Dodgers uniform and put together a sparkling performance against the Padres, allowing one run and four hits with six strikeouts and two walks in six innings. He certainly made Dodgers fans forget he had a 6.47 ERA prior to the trade.

The 36-year-old Lynn, like the 35-year-old Kelly, are shells of the players they used to be. Yet the Dodgers have reasonable hopes that Lynn and Kelly can help the team finish strong in the NL West and maybe even give them an extra oomph in the postseason.

Lynn’s dominant outing on Sunday outshines Joe Kelly’s recent appearance for LA on Friday, when Kelly pitched 1.1 innings against the Padres. Kelly allowed one hit and one walk that game and recorded one strikeout and no earned runs, though he made headlines for his NSFW comment directed at Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. more than his actual on-field play. Love him or hate him, Kelly is a Dodger again.

Both Lynn and Kelly bottomed out toward the end of their stints in Chicago, and their trades to LA were mostly met with unfazed “meh” reactions. None of that Eduardo Rodriguez drama.

Still, in a low stakes, high upside deal, the Dodgers didn’t have to give up much for the two veterans, each of whom showed glimpses of their former efficient selves — and, in Kelly’s case, his controversial personality — in albeit a small sample size. They’ll take vintage Lynn and Kelly over a disgruntled Rodriguez any day.