The Los Angeles Dodgers have an array of superstars. Their starting rotation is potentially the best in baseball, but they have not been healthy together yet. The Dodgers could be interested in adding another star pitcher to account for injuries to their preferred starters.
The Dodgers rotation, when healthy, figures to include Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Rōki Sasaki. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw. That's not to mention players like Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin. However, health has been a struggle for the group. Kershaw just made his debut, Ohtani has just started facing hitters and three more of their starters are on the injured list.
While the Dodgers expect to have all of them back at some point, they may not risk their World Series aspirations on the health of a group that has proven it cannot stay healthy. CBS Sports' R.J. Anderson tabbed the Dodgers as a landing spot for Sandy Alcántara of the Miami Marlins.
"Alcantara appeared to be the league's most obvious top trade candidate coming into the season as he returned from Tommy John surgery," wrote Anderson. "His velocity is back and he's generating plenty of ground balls, but his command hasn't been there and his pitches are finding the barrel too often. Teams will have to assess not only what they think of his chances of righting the ship in-season, but how much they're willing to part with in order to play the odds."
Unlike other teams interested in Alcántara, the Dodgers do not need him to bear the burden of an ace. However, they will need him to be better than he currently is. He has an 8.04 ERA this season, but the Dodgers will try and unlock his best form.
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Alcántara is a two-time All-Star and won the National League Cy Young Award in 2022. The Dodgers would hope Snell, Yamamoto, Ohtani, Glasnow and Sasaki can get them through the season. However, Kershaw, given his age and injury history, could be a concern down the line. Alcántara could slot in as a backend starter while the Dodgers try to fix him.
He has high upside, and at worst would be an innings-eater for the Dodgers. However, if he can start to find his best self in Los Angeles he could end up carrying the rotation.