Starting pitching is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ favorite luxury, because they know how quickly that luxury can turn into a shortage.
Once again, the Dodgers’ vaunted rotation has been decimated by injury in 2025. They’re getting Tyler Glasnow back this week, but that still leaves Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, and Tony Gonsolin on the injured list.
The Dodgers will first turn their attention to the trade deadline. But like last year, that search might lead them to rental starters only. For a more permanent upgrade, free agency might be the place to look.
This year’s free-agent crop isn’t amazing, but there are some hidden gems. And a Philadelphia Phillies star might be in the crosshairs, if you believe the word of one of the Dodgers’ rivals.
In a piece recently published by Jayson Stark of The Athletic, a rival executive predicted that the Dodgers would sign Phillies starter Ranger Suárez when he hits the open market this winter.
“With Suárez, the often-brilliant but often-injured 29-year-old left-hander for the Phillies, the rest of the sport looked at his incredible first half in 2024 and said: Let’s see him do that again,” Stark wrote.”OK then. He’s sitting on a 1.99 ERA with one start left before the All-Star break. So they’ve seen it! The question is how attractive is a 30-year-old left-hander with a history of streaks of brilliance but iffy volume.
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“‘It’s perfect,’ said one rival exec, with a laugh. ‘He’ll sign with the Dodgers.’”
Suárez has a 3.26 career ERA in just under 700 innings, and has produced at least 2.3 bWAR in each of the last five seasons. He’s also never made it through a full season as a starter without at least a brief injured list stay, so he fits the Dodgers’ profile from a risk perspective as well.
Is a prediction made with a laugh meant to be tongue-in-cheek? Or is it merely an acceptance that the Dodgers are now not only the premier destination for free agents these days, but the inevitable one?
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