MLB Rumors: Dodgers connected to another blockbuster trade to join Ohtani, Yamamoto and Glasnow

If MLB is a league where the rich always get richer, no baseball team has ever quite embodied that sentiment quite like the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2023-24 offseason.

They started by landing the white whale, inking two-way Japanese megastar Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract. Less than a week later, the Dodgers pulled off the biggest blockbuster trade thus far, bringing Tyler Glasnow to the City of Angels in a swap with the Rays and signing him to an extension. LA wasn't done yet, though, most recently signing another Japanese star, 25-year-old right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, to a 12-year, $325 million contract.

As far as a singular two-week period for one franchise goes, it's hard to think of a more incredible run than the one that the Dodgers are on. And somehow, they still might not be done as one former MLB executive and insider has now connected LA to another blockbuster trade.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic reported that he expects the Dodgers to still add to their bullpen after the most recent signing with Yamamoto. While the franchise has been a favorite proposed landing spot for Josh Hader, Bowden named them as a team to watch for a trade with the Cleveland Guardians for star closer Emmanuel Clase.

MLB Rumors: Dodgers named a fit for Emmanuel Clase trade

ESPN insider Jeff Passan ($) reported in early December that the Guardians could listen to trade offers on Clase, who will be just 26 years old on Opening Day for the 2024 season. Hader's demands for a lucrative contract have put a two-time All-Star like Clase in potentially high demand, especially on an exceptionally affordable contract wherein he's owed just $13 million total through 2026 and has $10 million club options for 2027 and 2028.

Though money is clearly not an issue for the Dodgers given the contracts they've handed out -- though Ohtani's deal is infamously heavily deferred -- that type of contract for a slight drop-off from Hader but still a huge bullpen upgrade should be highly enticing for Los Angeles as they continue to build a super team.

This, of course, doesn't guarantee the Dodgers will make the move, nor even that the Guardians will trade Clase. At the same time, though, with how this season has gone thus far in LA, it would be a wild flourish to add to an already eye-popping offseason if this club could also add one of the best closers in baseball by making such a trade.