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Dave Dombrowski's Phillies' Offseason Trade for Jesús Luzardo

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Mike Ostrowski | Last updated May 28, 2025 8:30 PM ET

As with every offseason, the moves that a team makes - or doesn't make - will shape the season to come. And the bolder the move, the more it can do to shift things in your favor.

Last year, the Juan Soto trade got the New York Yankees to the World Series. Signing Shohei Ohtani is what led the Los Angeles Dodgers to eventually win it.

This time, several other teams looked to claim the prize of best offseason move. But for MLB Insider Jon Heyman, the move that stands out the most so far is more under the radar: Jesús Luzardo being added to the Philadelphia Phillies rotation.

Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski recently discussed what led him to make that deal with the Miami Marlins.

"In Luzardo's case, they were in a different spot than we are," Dombrowski told Heyman during his podcast. "They're looking to build for the future. We had some good young players, one good young player in particular - (Starlyn) Caba the shortstop - that they really liked. The timing fit for them; (Luzardo) was coming off a down year from an injury perspective. I really credit our medical team and him, looking at the injury reports feeling that they could help him."

Dombrowski had to give up two of Philly's Top-30 prospects for Luzardo, who remains under club control through next season. It's looking like a great move so far, as Jesús has 77 strikeouts and a 1.18 WHIP through 67 innings. He's behind only a veteran member of the Philly staff in most categories, and Dave made that comparison as a reason for acquiring another former division rival.

"I've always been an advocate of strong starting pitching," Dombrowski said. "Just like Zack Wheeler, the thing about Luzardo - they have a pedigree. When you start looking back to what they achieved, they were high picks... they've been highly-touted prospects. They got quality stuff. So for us it was the right time, right mesh, right players to be able to accomplish that type of deal."

The duo is largely responsible for Phillies' starting pitching having, by far, the most strikeouts (346) in Major League Baseball. And neither is showing any signs of stopping as they enter the middle third of the season.

Both may have started as lower cards of a hand, but now they're looking like a pair of aces in Philadelphia.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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