Building the perfect Los Angeles Dodgers trade deadline to break baseball

If you thought the Los Angeles Dodgers were content with three World Series championships in six seasons, then you simply don’t know ball. 

Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and the NL West-leading Dodgers are the heavyweight favorites to become the first National League team to win three consecutive World Series titles. They’re already up 11 games over the second-place Diamondbacks and look to secure home-field advantage over the NL Central-leading Brewers. 

All signs point to the Dodgers buying in a big way before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and we’ll see if their additions include Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. But with a potential lockout and proposed salary cap looming, the Dodgers should be incentivized to go all-out and infuriate fans with a massive haul. It’s time for the Dodgers to break baseball and try to land these five proven veteran All-Stars.

Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins

Buxton has a full no-trade clause and has publicly said he wants to play his entire career in Minnesota, so this is admittedly a controversial choice. But we’re looking at the moves that would send Major League Baseball into a frenzy rather than those that feel the most realistic. 

If the Dodgers acquired Buxton, it’d likely mean one of him or Andy Pages moving to a corner outfield spot. Pages has almost exclusively played center in the majors, though he has 91 career starts in right field. Buxton has only played center field and designated hitter in his 12 seasons.

Would Kyle Tucker accept a move to left field, where he played his first three seasons? If it means earning another championship ring, then who is he to say no?

Luis Arraez, 2B, San Francisco Giants

Oh, yes. Alex Freeland hasn’t been awful by any means, but he’s no Luis Arraez. Then again, there aren’t many other active players with a .317 lifetime average, more walks to strikeouts, and nearly as many triples (25) as home runs (40) in eight seasons. 

Arraez's 2.9 bWAR is already his highest since 2023, and he’s positioned himself to earn a multi-year contract. The Giants are teetering on the point of desperation, which might be enough to risk an intra-division trade. And speaking of trades within the NL West…

Mason Miller, RP, San Diego Padres

Alright, now we’re talking. The Padres have fallen to 50-53 and are four games back in the NL Wild Card race. They’re likely stuck with Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Xander Bogaerts given the financial commitments to all three, and the NL West belongs to the Dodgers for the foreseeable future. Machado is, as the kids say, cooked, and he’s under contract through 2033. 

It’d be hard to fault the Padres if they’re hesitant to trade Miller within the division, especially to the loaded Dodgers. We’re talking about a dominant closer who is under team control through 2030 and has a 0.83 ERA in 65 innings since joining the Padres last summer. Suggesting that this trade would break baseball is like saying that Florida is hot in July. 

Michael Wacha, SP, Kansas City Royals

Wacha might be the most realistic — and, for what it’s worth, boring — player on this list. But he checks the boxes that every team should want the Dodgers to fail at acquiring. Wacha is a durable middle-of-the-rotation starter who can be either the No. 2 or No. 3 behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski, depending on how Dave Roberts wants to set up his playoff rotation.

You’ll notice that I omitted Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, and for good reason. I’d much rather hand the ball to Wacha than either of those two in October, solely because I trust him not to be an injury risk or on a pitch limit. The one knock on Wacha, though, is his 5.21 ERA over 46 ⅔ playoff innings. 

Tarik Skubal, SP, Detroit Tigers

As a wise Tigers fan once said, “life’s too short to not go for broke.” I’m admittedly not sure if Eminem had trading the two-time AL Cy Young winner to baseball’s latest dynasty in mind, but who are we to question a lyrical genius? (Though I’d be very interested to hear his inevitable post-Skubal trade quip.)

You can’t write a Dodgers trade deadline story without at least mentioning the possibility of acquiring Skubal. Such a move would understandably leave baseball fans livid, though that's not the Dodgers’ problem. All they’re trying to do is become the first team in nearly 30 years to win three consecutive World Series titles — and if they can land Skubal without giving up Josue De Paula, then who are we to judge?

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