Dodgers and Rays agree to trade sending Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot to Los Angeles: Sources

Written by Ken Rosenthal, Fabian Ardaya and Eno Sarris

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ offseason additions didn’t end with Shohei Ohtani.

The Dodgers made a move to bolster their 2024 starting rotation on Thursday, agreeing to acquire right-hander Tyler Glasnow in a four-player trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Outfielder Manuel Margot will also head to Los Angeles, while the Dodgers sent right-handed pitcher Ryan Bebiot and outfielder Johnny DeLuca to Tampa Bay, according to major league sources. The trade is contingent on the Dodgers signing Glasnow to an extension and pending a physical. News of the deal was first reported by ESPN.

Glasnow, 30, has never pitched more than 21 games or pitched more than 120 innings in a major league season. But he hit both those high marks in 2023, when he pitched to a 3.53 ERA and struck out 162 batters. He will be a free agent after the 2024 season.

Margot, 29, hit .264/.310/.376 with four home runs, 38 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 99 games last season. He spent four seasons in Tampa Bay after playing the first four of his career with the San Diego Padres.

Pepiot and Deluca entered 2023 as the team’s No. 13 and 19 prospects, according to The athleteKeith Law, both of whom spent time in the majors last season. Pepiot, 26, has a 2.14 ERA in 42 innings (eight games, three starts), striking out 38 and walking five. DeLuca, 25, was 11-for-42 (.262) at the plate with two home runs. He hit 17 homers and stole 12 bases in 73 games at Double A and Triple A combined.

The move comes less than a week after the Dodgers signed Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract. Ohtani, a two-time American League MVP, will hit but not pitch in 2024 as he recovers from surgery in September to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Why did the Dodgers make this move?

Adding a pitching always seems like the next step for the Dodgers after signing Ohtani, especially after seeing the unprecedented structure of Ohtani’s contract aimed at keeping the pedal down. They met with free agent starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday in Los Angeles and remain in the mix there, now adding a potential starter in Glasnow, who has emerged as a major trade target for the Dodgers over the past week. This rotation will likely remain an area of ​​demand even after the move, especially with Pepiot included as part of the package. But Glasnow always loomed as the next logical domino. — Fabian Ardaya, Dodgers staff writer

Los Angeles’ projected rotation so far

1. Walker Buehler (who may be delayed at the start of the season)
2. Tyler Glasnow
3. Bobby Miller
4. Ryan Yarbrough
5. Emmett Sheehan

Glasnow v. Pepbut

Pepiot is an exciting young arm. He averaged 94 mph on a four-seam fastball with a good flight, showed off his plus changeup with tremendous movement and exploited a hard breaking ball that hit just .233 from last year in a limited sample.

Glasnow is hurt. Last year, he pitched the most innings he’s ever pitched in the majors, and that was just 120 innings. Even with 2020 and his Tommy John year, he averaged about 80 innings per season.

There will be people who won’t like this deal.

But Pepiot’s command has been shaky, so even with his strides in that department, the Dodgers may have been nervous relying on him all season in the rotation, even beyond the fact that he doesn’t have a lot of major league experience under his belt.

And Glasno’s stuff is better. You don’t need Stuff+ — which has Glasnow Seventh in the major leagues Among the starters who had more than 100 innings last season — to know it sucks. He averaged 96.5 mph on four pitches with a cut last year, perfected his 90 mph slider and still has an 84 mph curveball with a plus-plus drop.

When you have some depth in your roll and need an ace, this is the type of dice roll you roll. — Eno Sarris, MLB senior writer

Required reading

(Photo: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)