The Los Angeles Dodgers traded Ryan Yarbrough to the Toronto Blue Jays for Kevin Kiermaier as one of their two moves on deadline day.
Parting with Yarbrough comes one day after he was designated for assignment and one year after the Dodgers acquired the left-hander at the 2023 deadline. Yarbrough was DFA’d in order to make room on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster for Amed Rosario’s return to the organization via trade.
Yarbrough excelled in a swingman role last year but failed to carry that success over into 2024. He went 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA in 32 games.
Yarbrough helped absorb innings for a Dodgers bullpen that’s been overworked at various points this year, but recently went through a stretch of allowing at least one run in four consecutive appearances. He snapped that with a scoreless inning against the Boston Red Sox on July 19, but then gave up a run in two of his last three games.
Over parts of two seasons with the Dodgers, Yarbrough went 8-4 with three saves, a 4.16 ERA, 4.93 FIP and 1.19 WHIP in 43 games (two starts). Yarbrough was not included on the Dodgers’ postseason roster last year despite being among their trade deadline additions.
The Dodgers traded Minor Leaguers Devin Mann and Derlin Figueroa to the Kansas City Royals in order to acquire Yarbrough.
Dodgers trade analysis: Kevin Kiermaier addition
Kiermaier joins the Dodgers in the midst of a down season at the plate but still plenty capable of playing Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field. That was an area of concern for the team that initially was addressed by trading for Tommy Edman, which is expected to bump Andy Pages over to right field.
Kiermaier hit .195/.236/.310 with four home runs and 18 RBI over 81 games for the Blue Jays this season. The Dodgers had interest in signing Kiermaier before he returned to Toronto on a one-year deal at the beginning of the year.
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