Time continues to tick for the Los Angeles Dodgers to acquire a starting pitcher ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. It’s believed their focus lies on Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray.
Both the Texas rangers and Oakland athletics are said to have high asking prices for the right-handers. That may prove a stumbling block for dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman who historically has avoided trading top prospects.
That holds particularly true if a trade target is a rental, which Darvish is. According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the dodgers are considering Dan Straily as a potential option:
Sources: #Dodgers remain optimistic they will land Darvish or Gray but have shown interest in Dan Straily as backup option. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 29, 2017
The Miami Marlins only recently made Straily available in what’s a weak market of controllable starting pitchers. The 28-year-old is earning a team-friendly $552,000 this season and isn’t eligible for free agency until 2021.
In his first season with the Marlins, Straily is 7-6 with a 3.84 ERA, 4.38 FIP and 1.19 WHIP in 19 starts. He’s allowing 1.5 home runs per nine innings but is also averaging what would be a career-best 8.2 strikeouts per nine.
The Dodgers have loose ties to Straily as his time with the Oakland Athletics overlaps with that of Farhan Zaidi. Prior to Friday’s report of the Dodgers having some level of interest in Straily, it was previously said eight teams contacted the Marlins over the right-hander.
