Dodgers Linked to $21 Million Starting Pitcher as Trade Deadline Nears

Jun 27, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Nick Martinez (28) acknowledges fans as he walks off the field during a pitching change in the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers are among the best teams in baseball as the MLB season reaches its halfway mark, but there is still a glaring hole in the pitching department that L.A. must fix before October.

As the trade deadline heats up, top insiders continue to link the Dodgers to a few pitchers that would greatly improve the hampered rotation, and provide more depth down the most important stretch of the season.

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The Cincinnati Reds are right about at the .500 mark at this point in the season and leading many to believe that they can be sellers at the trade deadline. One of their veteran starting pitchers, Nick Martinez, has been given a 65 percent chance to be traded, according to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel
Jeff Passan.

Martinez is currently employed on a qualifying offer of $21.05 million, and will turn 35 years old come August.

He is throwing a 4.12 ERA for the Reds this season, starting 16 of his 18 appearances, throwing 69 strikeouts to 21 walks across 94 innings of work.

Another potential plus for Martinez is his durability. He has hurled 868.1 MLB innings over the last eight seasons, with another 430.1 frames across five seasons in Japan and the Dominican Republic.

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Nearly 1,300 innings on his odometer can be seen as a double-edged sword at this point in the season for the Dodgers.

Pitching health has proven to be hard to come by for L.A. recently, but Martinez has shown that he is an ironman on the mound. With a pricy one-year contract paired with his age, he would be a rental without a doubt, but the terms of a potential return for the Reds is where things can get dangerous.

The Dodgers have been a part of the wrong side of trade deadline fleeces in recent memory, and the risk for an older pitcher to add to the rotation may not outweigh the potential losses.

If the right deal were to present itself, there is no reason why president of baseball operations Andrew Friedmans wouldn't pull the trigger, but perhaps waiting for the many injured pitchers to heal for the most important stretch of the season would be wiser for L.A.

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