CINCINNATI — Before leaving the land of Skyline Chili, the Dodgers ordered up a three-way.
With the high-leverage relievers they coveted moving to other teams at high ‘acquisition cost,’ the Dodgers inserted themselves into a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.
The main player in the deal was right-hander Zack Littell, who went from the Rays to the Reds. But the Dodgers collected the Reds’ 10th-rated prospect, left-handed starter Adam Serwinowski as well as 6-foot-10 reliever Paul Gervase and backup catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Rays.
Their only contribution to the trade was Triple-A catcher Hunter Feduccia, who goes to the Rays along with right-hander Brian Van Belle from the Reds’ Triple-A team.
Serwinowski, 21, was a 15th-round draft pick out of high school in 2022 and has yet to advance out of Class-A, where he has a 4.84 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 74⅓ innings this season.
Gervase, 25, made his major-league debut in June. In five appearances out of the bullpen for the Rays, he allowed three runs on six hits in 6⅓ innings. At Triple-A, he had 63 strikeouts in 40⅓ innings this season.
Rortvedt, 27, is a light-hitting catcher with some major-league time with the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees and Rays over the past five seasons.
Feduccia made his major-league debut with the Dodgers in 2024 but has spent most of the past four seasons in Triple-A, blocked behind Will Smith and Austin Barnes, now Smith and Dalton Rushing.
The deal could be a move by the Dodgers to collect assets for a larger trade before Thursday’s 3 p.m. PT deadline. But some of the top relievers they pursued went to other teams on Wednesday – mainly Jhoan Duran from the Twins to the Philadelphia Phillies and Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals to the New York Mets. Tyler Rogers, Seranthony Dominguez, Gregory Soto and Caleb Ferguson were other relievers who changed teams in the past couple of days.