The Los Angeles Dodgers made the surprising decision to designate James Paxton for assignment when they selected the contract of River Ryan.
The move took Paxton off the 26- and 40-man roster and gave the Dodgers seven days to trade him, place him on outright waivers or release him.
Although Paxton has not had the season he expected, he has still been effective enough to make him an asset to another team in need of starting pitching.
Because of that, it’s likely the Dodgers will be able to trade him. According to Chris Cotillo of Mass Live, multiple clubs have shown interest in trading for Paxton:
Los Angeles has until Monday to trade Paxton, who is drawing interest from multiple teams looking for rotation help ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
Paxton made 18 starts for the Dodgers, remaining healthy for the first half of the season and posting a 4.43 ERA, 4.97 FIP and 1.46 WHIP while striking out just 16.4% of hitters and walking 12.3%.
His strikeout rate has declined significantly from his career marks, and his walk rate has almost doubled, making each time out a struggle for Paxton.
Still, he has been able to keep the Dodgers in games more often than not, posting an 8-2 record.
Paxton also hit all the incentives in his contract, earning an additional $600,000 each for his sixth, eighth, 10th, 12th and 16th starts this season. He also earned a $1 million bonus for making an 18th start of the year.
Despite helping to keep the Dodgers afloat, he was unlikely to be part of their postseason plans, and their rotation is starting to get healthy, which made Paxton expendable.
Aside from their pitchers getting healthy, the Dodgers have also relied on their young arms with a group of rookies in their rotation — Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Ryan.
Red Sox among interest clubs in James Paxton
The Boston Red Sox are reported to be one team that has interest in acquiring Paxton.
Coincidentally, Paxton’s final start for the Dodgers was against the Red Sox in the series finale at Dodger Stadium. He threw five-plus innings and allowed three runs on four hits, including one homer. Paxton finished with seven strikeouts against four walks.
Paxton possibly joining the Red Sox would represent a reunion as he spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the team. However, Paxton did not pitch in 2022 due to his recovery from Tommy John surgery the year prior.
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