Dodgers’ active deadline brings in one of AL’s top starters (Flaherty) and Gold Glover (Kiermaier)
by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers have made one of the biggest impact trade-deadline deals in acquiring starting pitcher and Los Angeles-area native Jack Flaherty on Tuesday. And in another deal, they added a Gold Glove Award winner — the second in as many days — with the acquisition of outfielder Kevin Kiermaier.
That makes five additions over the last two days after the Dodgers received Gold Glove Award winner Tommy Edman from St. Louis and relief pitcher Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox in a three-team deal on Monday and infielder/outfielder Amed Rosario from Tampa Bay.
Flaherty, 28 and a graduate of Harvard-Westlake High, comes over from Detroit for №8 prospect and High-A catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo and №22 prospect and Triple-A shortstop Trey Sweeney.
Flaherty has been one of the American League’s top starting pitchers in 2024. Among starters with at least 100 innings pitched, he ranks seventh in ERA (2.95), second in strikeouts per nine innings (11.2), third in WHIP (0.96), sixth in FIP (3.11), seventh in strikeouts (133) and eighth in opponents’ batting average (.211).
The eight-year veteran has a career 3.64 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and has averaged 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings in 149 career games (143 starts).
The Dodgers now have two of the Majors’ top-five strikeout-rate pitchers, with Tyler Glasnow ranking second at 11.6 K/9 and Flaherty ranking fifth in the Majors.
Both pitchers are also locals, with Glasnow from nearby Hart High School in Santa Clarita.
Kiermaier, a four-time Gold Glove outfielder, announced his intent to retire from the Majors after the 2024 season on Thursday. The Dodgers traded relief pitcher Ryan Yarbrough, who was designated for assignment on Monday, to the Blue Jays for the 34-year-old Kiermaier.
He is batting .195/.236/.310/.546 with four home runs in 217 plate appearances this season.
He is a career .246/.305/.403/.709 hitter in 12 big league seasons — the first 10 spent with Tampa Bay where he was a member of the 2020 American League championship team.
The Dodgers’ addition of five Major League players has given them a frontline starting pitcher (Flaherty), a high-leverage relief pitcher (Kopech), two multi-positional players (Rosario and Edman) and a veteran outfielder (Kiermaier).
The cost was their 2022 Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year (Miguel Vargas), their Nos. 8 (Liranzo), 17 (Jeral Perez), 22 (Sweeney) and 23 (Alexander Albertus) prospects, Yarbrough and 27-year-old Triple-A right-handed pitcher Michael Flynn.
In order to make room for Flaherty and Kiremaier on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers designated pitchers Gus Varland and Nick Ramirez for assignment.
Dodgers’ active deadline brings in one of AL’s top starters (Flaherty) and Gold Glover Kiermaier was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.