
Dodgers Pushed To Swing Bold Trade For $6 Million Pitcher
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a lot of talent on their roster, but they have fought so many injuries this season that their pitching staff has struggled quite a bit.
However, the Dodgers will likely be aggressive at the trade deadline, as it seems they are every year, in an attempt to bolster the pitching on the roster despite the injuries.
RB Hayek of Clutch Points recently urged the Dodgers to swing a trade for Washington Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan to bolster their bullpen down the stretch.
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Kyle Finnegan #67 of the Washington Nationals pitches in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockiesat Nationals Park on June 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Kyle Finnegan #67 of the Washington Nationals pitches in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockiesat Nationals Park on June 19, 2025 in Washington, DC."Finnegan would be a great addition to the roster. Substantially, it would give the Dodgers another strong arm in the bullpen and improve a group that ranks 21st in the majors in ERA," Hayek wrote. "Finnegan has been solid for the last-place Washington Nationals, going 0-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 18 saves. While he also has five blown saves, the case can be made for a change in environment. Plus, he had 38 saves last season and is one of the better bullpen arms in baseball.
"If the Dodgers trade for Finnegan, they would likely have to give up 20th-ranked prospect Damon Keith and a potential low-grade prospect or a player who is not getting enough time in Los Angeles, such as Miguel Rojas. Either way, it would fill a need for the Dodgers and increase their chances of making it back to the World Series."
Finnegan is in the middle of a career year, posting a career-best ERA while holding an impressive 18 saves.
While the righty wouldn't stay in the closer role if he were traded to the Dodgers, it wouldn't matter. He would be a piece of the puzzle that makes up one of the better bullpens in baseball.
If the Dodgers can add Finnegan for cheap, it would be the kind of trade that quietly increases their World Series odds without mortgaging the farm system.
More MLB: Mets Predicted To Land $50 Million Star In Massive Trade

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

an hour ago
Angels manager Ron Washington to miss rest of season with unspecified medical issue
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington will miss the rest of the season because of an unspecified medical issue, the team said Friday. Washington, the oldest manager in the major leagues at 73, has been sidelined for the past week. He experienced shortness of breath and appeared fatigued toward the end of a four-game series at the New York Yankees that ended on June 19. Washington flew back to Southern California, underwent a series of tests and was placed on medical leave. Angels bench coach Ray Montgomery, who has filled in for Washington for the past week, was named interim manager. Infield coach Ryan Goins was promoted to bench coach. Washington is 664-611 in 10 seasons as a major league manager, eight with Texas and two with Los Angeles. He led the Rangers to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011 before stepping down abruptly in September 2014. Washington returned to the sport as a coach with the Athletics and the Atlanta Braves, who won the World Series in 2021, before landing a second managerial job in Orange County. The Angels were 40-40 entering Friday night's game against the visiting Washington Nationals, winning three straight under Montgomery and seven of 10 overall. Los Angeles has played better than most expected from a team with major league-worst streaks of nine straight losing seasons and 10 straight non-playoff seasons. The 55-year-old Montgomery is getting his first job as a major league manager. The native of New York's Westchester County is a former Houston Astros outfielder who served as the scouting director for Arizona and Milwaukee before joining the Angels as their director of player personnel for the 2020 season. Montgomery became Los Angeles' bench coach in 2021 after general manager Perry Minasian took over the front office, and he stayed with the Angels while Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin and Washington managed the club. Goins played eight seasons in the major leagues before Washington hired him as the Angels' infield coach before the 2024 season. ___

an hour ago
Chisholm Jr. homers in 500th game and Yankees reach halfway point with 3-0 victory over A's
Associated Press -- Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered on the first pitch he saw in his 500th game and the New York Yankees beat the Athletics 3-0 on Friday night to reach the halfway point of the season. Chisholm hit his fifth homer in 21 games since returning from an oblique injury on June 3 and gave the Yankees the lead in the second by driving a cutter from A's starter Mitch Spence (2-3) to the second deck in right field. As he rounded third, the third baseman shrugged his shoulders and did a little shuffle before crossing the plate. Chisholm has 89 homers and 109 stolen bases since debuting with the Miami Marlins on September 1, 2020. The only other players with as many homers and stolen bases through 500 career games are Eric Davis (107, homers, 190 stolen bases) and former Yankee Alfonso Soriano (97 homers, 121 RBIs Cody Bellinger and DJ LeMahieu hit RBI singles as the Yankees reached the halfway point at 47-34, putting them on a 94-win pace. The Yankees were 52-29 at the halfway point last season when they finished with 94 wins and reached the World Series for the first time since 2009. New York rookie starter Will Warren (5-4) survived issuing three walks in the first inning and allowed two hits in five innings. Four relievers followed Warren and Devin Williams got the last three outs for his 11th save to complete New York's ninth shutout. Aaron Judge was walked intentionally for the 18th time this season in the third before Bellinger singled. LeMahieu hit an infield single in the fourth after Paul Goldschmidt reached on catcher's interference. Spence, a former Yankees minor leaguer, allowed three runs and three hits in five innings. The A's lost for the fifth time in six games and were blanked for the sixth time this season. Warren ended a 36-pitch first inning by getting a called third strike on former Yankee Gio Urshela. He ended his 100-pitch outing by stranding runners at first and second in the fifth. Warren has 39 strikeouts on called third strikes — most in the majors. ___


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly return to Houston: ‘Everyone's going to be watching this series'
HOUSTON — Managers maintain they never think ahead, but Thursday afternoon at Daikin Park allowed Joe Espada the rare chance to break character. During the first inning, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos lifted a sinking line drive into right field, conjuring Espada's memories of a far more consequential fly ball hit to that same spot. Advertisement On Nov. 5, 2022, with a ballpark nearing bedlam and a ballclub closing in on a championship, Castellanos chased a first-pitch slider from Ryan Pressly. The baseball traveled 219 feet toward the right field line. Kyle Tucker loped into foul territory, caught it and completed the second World Series championship in Houston Astros history. Tucker still has the baseball stowed away somewhere in his home for safekeeping. Asked on Friday whether he's ever tried to wrestle it away, Pressly deadpanned, 'I'm just glad he caught it.' 'Hopefully,' Pressly added from the third-base dugout, 'we can re-create that in Chicago.' Pressly and Tucker teamed for the most meaningful out in the history of Houston's downtown ballpark. On Friday afternoon, they entered it as visitors and two vestiges of a transformative Astros winter like few before it. Trading both players to the Chicago Cubs strayed from most of Houston's standard operating procedure during its golden era. Paring payroll and procuring prospects took precedence, prompting wonder whether that run could be waning. Finishing the first half 48-33 has offered an authoritative answer. 'They've done that for how many years now? Ten? Every time they lose somebody they always seem to replace (them) with somebody that's really good and pick up the baton right behind them and keep winning,' Pressly said. 'It's what they've been doing for the past decade now.' Tucker and Pressly helped to prolong this successful era, a fact the Astros hoped to accentuate during a pregame feting on Friday night. It forced two players into the sort of spotlight they've never been comfortable embracing. Both Tucker and Pressly are pleasant people, but prefer for their play to speak for itself. Returning to Houston made it impossible. Four cameras followed Tucker during his walk in from a loading dock located, fittingly, in the right field corner. A swarm of at least 15 reporters greeted both him and Pressly inside the third-base dugout prior to batting practice. Specks of gold were sprinkled throughout the right field stands, where a sizable group of fans wore crowns in honor of 'King Tuck.' One young girl outside the third-base dugout held a sign proclaiming 'Tucker, you're still my bestie!' Tucker acknowledged it before mingling with many of his former coaches before Chicago's batting practice. Advertisement The Astros played Tucker's longtime walk-up song — Rich Homie Quan's 'Walk Through' — before his first at-bat. Tucker stepped out of the batter's box to tip his helmet toward both a roaring crowd and the applauding Astros' dugout. 'There's a lot of really good memories here and we had a lot of success playing in this city and on this field, so it's cool,' Tucker said. 'The biggest thing is being around the guys in those moments.' Tucker and Pressly will be forever intertwined, but parallels between their two trades are almost nonexistent. The Astros traded Pressly as a pure salary dump, influenced in part by his deteriorating relationship with general manager Dana Brown. Houston offloaded $8.5 million of Pressly's $14 million salary as it attempted to lower its luxury tax payroll. It also entered Friday with the lowest bullpen ERA in the American League in Pressly's absence, though the veteran reliever has had a fine season with Chicago. Trading Tucker is a far more seismic decision, one that could define Brown's tenure as the club's head of baseball operations. Owner Jim Crane is loath to give the type of contract Tucker will command in free agency next winter, but that philosophy didn't precipitate trades of other homegrown stars like Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa or George Springer. The Astros' depleted farm system almost forced Brown to trade Tucker. So did the understanding that retaining Bregman in free agency would be difficult given Crane's aforementioned contract philosophy. That Houston had coveted third baseman Isaac Paredes since last season's trade deadline only made the decision easier. Acquiring both Paredes and Cam Smith from the Cubs was supposed to solve Houston's third base situation in both the short and long term. Smith switched to right field amid an eye-opening stint in major-league spring training, made the team after just 32 professional games and is now one of the sport's best defensive outfielders. 'It's no secret that everyone's going to be watching this series,' said a smiling Smith, who whacked his sixth major-league home run in the fourth inning of Friday's game. Smith's swift ascent has exceeded the already enormous expectations Houston had for him. Paredes is the team's home run leader and trails only Jeremy Peña for the club's OPS lead. Starter Hayden Wesneski, the third member of Houston's haul from Chicago, underwent Tommy John surgery last month, but has four more seasons of club control. Advertisement Tucker, meanwhile, has given the Cubs everything they desired. He entered Friday with a .922 OPS and on pace for a 30/30 season. During the first inning on Friday, Tucker uncorked a wonderful throw to nab Paredes trying to score from second base on a single. 'I think both teams really got value (and) pretty good return for that trade,' Espada said. Grading a trade after three months is foolish. Smith's development across his next five years will weigh heavily in the final verdict. Whether the Cubs can retain Tucker after this season will factor in, too. Even if they can't, complaints in Chicago will be nonexistent if Tucker carries the Cubs to their fourth World Series championship. 'It's been a pretty easy and smooth transition,' Tucker said. 'They've welcomed me and my family with open arms. It's been a lot of fun to play in front of that crowd and that fan base and just the city itself with the whole history behind the city and the team. It's been really fun to be a part of. I'm excited to get back after this series and continue it.' Before he could, his former team sought sentimentality. At 6:52 p.m., the Astros played a three-minute tribute video for both Tucker and Pressly, bookended by highlights of the Castellanos fly ball that will forever live in Houston lore. 'A lot of memories have been made out on that field,' Pressly said. 'A lot of lifetime friendships made on the other side. I always root for these guys. They're great teammates. I was super fortunate and blessed to share a clubhouse with a couple of those guys who are pretty much legends over there in this city. I couldn't have been more thankful to share my time with them.'