Dodgers Rumors: LA Linked With Division Rival’s Former Pitcher This Offseason

LA does love their sneaky value signings!

The Dodgers are looking all around the league for help in their starting rotation, and they are expected to be aggressive in landing some top-tier talent. But the team also will need to fill the rotation out with some lower-level guys to slot into the backend.

One name that has been linked with the Dodgers is former San Francisco Giants pitcher Sean Manaea. Manaea had a 4.44 ERA in 37 games played for the Giants a season ago, but he showed the ability to perform both in the rotation and out of the bullpen.

This could intrigue the Dodgers, as they value versatility with all their players. MLB writer Darragh McDonald of MLBTradeRumors put the Dodgers and Manaea together on a proposed two-year deal worth $22 million.  

“Manaea found an extra couple ticks of velocity in San Francisco. He averaged 93.6 MPH on his fastball after sitting at 91.3 MPH the previous season. That’s not entirely a reflection of working out of relief. He was sitting in the 94-95 range as a starter early in the year and closed the season with a 93.2 MPH average over six innings as a starter against the Padres.”

Per MLBTradeRumors.com

After a very poor start to the year, Manaea went mainly to a relief role for the Giants and quietly had a solid season. Between Mat 11 and September 6, Manaea posted an ERA of 3.86 over 67.2 innings, and he struck out over 28% of the batters that he faced.

This could be a sneaky good valued option for LA out of the bullpen, with the option to have him start games every so often as well. The Dodgers love to use multi-inning relievers after openers, and Manaea could fit the bill to a tee.