Dodgers’ biggest 2026 MLB trade deadline mistake

The Dodgers should have added a proven catcher at the deadline

With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, Dave Roberts dropped a certified bomb on the Dodgers’ fanbase on Wednesday, letting fans know that not only had Rushing suffered a UCL tear, but the chances of him catching again this season aren’t great as the team weighs their options.

“I hope I’m wrong. He’s a tough kid, and so for him to go through this speaks a lot. So I think that would be great if he can. Certainly a possibility with the time, but we’re certainly trying to keep the bat alive, for sure,” Roberts said via The Los Angeles Times.

“Over the next couple weeks, I think that we’ll have a better idea of how he’s responding with time. I do think that there’s really not much cost, outside of two weeks or whatever, to kind of wait and see how he responds to some treatment and some kind of stuff that they decide to do.”

Ultimately, if Rushing is able to return even as a hitter, he does bring value to Los Angeles’ lineup, as he was one of their better bats early in the season, but because Shohei Ohtani is locked in as the National League’s best designated hitter, there aren’t exactly a ton of opportunities for the second-year catcher to get multiple at-bat games in that role.

What the Dodgers will need to put together for nine innings a night for the next two months is who will be calling pitches for their stable of star pitchers, which hasn’t exactly been a strength during their current losing streak.

Since the trade deadline, the Dodgers have exclusively platooned their new catcher tandem after sending Chuckie Robinson and Eliezer Alfonzo back to the minors, with Rortvedt starting his first game back with the team before Feduccia took over down the stretch, and that dynamic flipped for their next two games. Over those three games, Rortvedt and Feduccia had seven plate appearances, recording one combined hit at the bottom of Roberts’ lineup while forcing the skipper to pinch hit for them in the pursuit of some late-game offense.

Will Rortvedt and/or Feduccia be able to get it together and take the starting spot for as long as Smith is on the injured list? Potentially, as Rortvedt certainly pulled off that feat last season, but instead of surrendering Jack Suwinski and international bonus pool money for a player like Feduccia, who has just 284 plate appearances at the MLB level – or trading for a player in Bubic who might not even play this season – why not trade for a veteran catcher who can hold things down?

Even if the Dodgers didn’t want to add a young, long-term catcher like Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles – even if they could have outbid the Boston Red Sox for his services – the Dodgers could have made a move for a player like Victor Caratini from the Minnesota Twins, who has one additional year of control, or even a member of the Los Angeles Angels’ platoon like Travis d’Arnaud or even Tyler Heineman, both of whom have deep ties to the area.

Now granted, if Will Smith returns in the not-too-distant future, this conversation really doesn’t matter. Ben Rov will almost certainly slide into the backup catcher role, Feduccia will be around as an additional option, even if he splits time between OKC and Elysian Park, and the Dodgers will be able to ride the best lineup in baseball all the way to and through October. But if Smith is unable to return, relying on Rortvedt and Feduccia to win a World Series with Rushing potentially only available as a pinch hitter adds a level of drama to one of the toughest asks in professional sports: a title three-peat.