Dodgers Predicted To Trade Former Top Pitching Prospect To AL Powerhouse
The Los Angeles Dodgers have more starting pitching than they know what to do with. At the end of their list of potential big league starters, you’ll find former top prospect Bobby Miller.
Miller is currently blocked by a list of proven big league arms that’s at least seven or eight names long. Because of this, many expect the Dodgers to trade the righty while his value is still sky high. Even though the 25-year-old struggled mightily last season, he still holds tremendous value. Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer recently predicted the Dodgers would opt to trade Miller to the Baltimore Orioles in a one-for-one player swap. Here’s the full deal pitched by Rymer to send Miller to Baltimore: Baltimore Orioles acquire:
RHP Bobby Miller Los Angeles Dodgers acquire: OF Vance Honeycutt “The Orioles weren’t uninterested in replacing Corbin Burnes after he left to join the Arizona Diamondbacks,” Rymer wrote.
“They were connected to legitimate aces throughout the winter, from Dylan Cease to Luis Castillo. Nothing panned out, however, and Baltimore’s rotation is worse for it. And since options are few and the club’s payroll is bloated, an upside play may be its only hope. “Hence Miller, who was a sensation as a rookie in 2023. He certainly had ace-caliber pitches, ultimately tying for fifth among starters in Stuff+.”
Of all teams in the league, the Orioles have the hole in their pitching staff as well as the prospect capital to acquire Miller. In Rymer’s deal, the Orioles would trade Vance Honeycutt to the Dodgers to land the star pitcher. Miller would slot into the Baltimore rotation from day one, while Honeycutt would be a huge addition to a depleted Dodgers farm system. This trade seems like a win-win for both teams.
David Bote Exercises Upward Mobility Clause In Dodgers Deal
Dodgers non-roster invitee David Bote triggered an upward mobility clause in his minor league contract yesterday, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. That clause forces the Dodgers to make the veteran infielder available to all 29 other teams and let him go if another club is willing to put him on its 40-man roster. Los Angeles would be able to counter by instead selecting Bote to its own 40-man. If no team wants to scoop Bote up and place him on the 40-man, he’ll likely head to Triple-A Oklahoma City to begin the season with the Dodgers’ top affiliate.
Bote, 31, had a monster spring performance, hitting .400/.471/.700 with a pair of homers in 34 plate appearances. He also enjoyed productive looks in the majors and in Triple-A with the Cubs last year. Bote slashed .259/.341/.546 (124 wRC+) in 123 plate appearances with Triple-A Iowa and hit .304/.333/.391 in a smaller sample of 48 big league plate appearances. He’s a career .234/.318/.392 hitter in 1213 plate appearances at the MLB level, dating back to 2018.
Originally an 18th-round pick by Chicago back in 2012, Bote debuted in 2018 and looked to have carved out a utility role on the Cubs’ bench in 2019, when he logged what’s still a career-high 356 plate appearances and hit .257/.362/.422. He signed a surprising extension with the Cubs that April, locking him in for five years and $15.0025MM and giving Chicago a pair of club options. The deal bought out all of Bote’s arb seasons, and the options covered his first two free agent seasons.
The deal went south quickly. Bote hit poorly in 2020-21, and he was passed through outright waivers in 2022. Bote didn’t have the service time to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of his guarantee, so he headed to Iowa and was used as an up-and-down bench player over the next couple seasons.
Even with the rocky track record, Bote has hit well in small samples during his most recent MLB looks (.272/.320/.420 in 175 plate appearances since ’22 — albeit with a 33% strikeout rate). He’s been a perennially productive hitter in Triple-A as well, and he has at least 400 career innings at all four infield spots and in the outfield (primarily the corners). Teams looking for a right-handed bat with some versatility could consider him for a bench spot. He technically still has a minor league option remaining, but he’s four days from reaching five years of service, at which point he’d have to consent to being optioned.
