A Dodgers-Athletics trade to give Oakland a godfather offer for young star

Do the Los Angeles Dodgers need a closer? Absolutely not. Evan Phillips has nine saves, a 2.30 ERA and has been incredibly reliable for them over the last few years.

But, with the Oakland Athletics dominant, controllable closer, Mason Miller, on the market, would the Dodgers still make an attempt to acquire him? Yeah, probably. That's just the way Los Angeles operates. You can't have too much talent.

And with Miller being 25 years old and under team control for the next half decade, the Dodgers could look to acquire him and make him their closer of the future. Phillips and Miller could form the nastiest 1-2 punch at the end of baseball games that we've seen in the 21st century.

So yeah, the Dodgers could throw together a huge prospect package in order to try to acquire the A's flamethrower.

A Dodgers-A's trade that brings Mason Miller to Los Angeles

A package to acquire Miller would be massive. He's young, healthy, controllable and a former top prospect himself. He's not somebody that can be recreated in any farm system in baseball.

And Los Angeles has the farm system that's loaded enough in order to make an offer this big.

Acquiring Mason Miller starts with a top 100 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. That's almost non-negotiable. For the Dodgers, this is outfielder Josue De Paula. The trade needs more than just that, so Los Angeles would trade two pitchers, their 3rd ranked prospect Nick Frasso and their 15th ranked prospect Ronan Kopp.

De Paula and Frasso headline the deal. De Paula is a 19 year old that showcases one of the highest offensive ceilings in the minor leagues. MLB Pipeline grades his hit tool as a 60 and his power tool as a 55 on their 20-80 grade scale. Numbers like this are almost never seen together, where most prospects have one or the other.

Frasso currently sits on the 60 day injury with a shoulder injury and would need to be activated for this trade to be possible. He's one of the only prospects in baseball that has a fastball that can touch 100, like Miller's, though Miller's is far and beyond the better offering.

Ronan Kopp has made the full transition over to being a reliever. His command has been the thorn in his side, albeit a huge thorn this season, holding him back from reaching his potential. He has a big-league arsenal, especially being a southpaw, but his command is so bad that he's almost unusable. His ceiling remains incredibly high though, as he just needs to be in the zone in order to be elite.

But for the Dodgers, they would add one of the game's most dominatn pitchers to a team that is already one of the most dominant in baseball. Los Angeles is never shy to buy at the deadline. This deal is much more than a rental. I could see the Dodgers getting mighty aggressive in the idea of acquiring Mason Miller.