Dodgers Could Make Dustin May Available

The Dodgers have considered the possibility of trading right-hander Dustin May, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. His colleague, Fabian Ardaya, hears similarly and reminds that Los Angeles has traded starters from its big league roster at each of the past two deadlines (James Paxton, Noah Syndergaard).

Los Angeles has a bevy of starters on the roster, but many are injured. May’s 99 innings rank second on the team, as do his 17 starts. Clayton Kershaw is the only other Dodger with even ten starts on the year. That said, L.A. recently welcomed Tyler Glasnow back from the injured list. Shohei Ohtani has resumed pitching, though he’s yet to top three innings in a start. Emmet Sheehan returned from Tommy John surgery in mid-June and has pitched well. Blake Snell is expected back soon. He’s made three rehab starts, building up to four innings his last time out, and has allowed a total of two runs in nine frames with a 17-to-1 K/BB ratio.

The Dodgers are known to be exploring the market for high-end relievers. May isn’t going to be a key component — or a component at all — in any trade where the Dodgers pry a top reliever like Emmanuel Clase, Ryan Helsley or Jhoan Duran away from their current teams. He’s a free agent at season’s end and thus wouldn’t hold interest to a club that’s gravitating toward the sell side of the deadline spectrum. However, trading May could bring in a reliever in a one-for-one swap with another contender seeking rotation help or could net some additional prospects to help soften the hit to the farm system if the Dodgers make a splash elsewhere.

It’s perhaps telling that the Dodgers don’t simply move May to the ’pen himself, though he’d presumably prefer to avoid such a move. He’s in his final season before free agency and his first year back after a 2024 season lost to flexor surgery rehab and a separate esophageal surgery. There’s no indication at all that May would push back on a more lasting move to relief work, to be clear, but it’s arguably in the 27-year-old righty’s best interest to continue on as a starter and build that workload up in his platform year. May followed Ohtani with 4 2/3 innings of long relief his last time.

May’s 2025 season has brought mixed results. His 99 innings are already a career-high at the MLB level for the frequently injured righty. He got out to a nice start (4.09 ERA, 24.2 K%, 8.5 BB% through June 2) but has hit a rockier stretch lately. Dating back to June 9, May has pitched 37 1/3 innings with a 5.79 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate. May’s velocity has held up, but he’s pushing into uncharted waters in terms of big league workload and doing so in his first season back on the mound following a year off. Some struggles are not necessarily surprising.

Because of that, the Dodgers would be selling low on May. However, given his status as an impending free agent who’s unlikely to receive a qualifying offer anyhow, the alternative would be hanging onto him and letting him go for no return at season’s end. If the Dodgers are either concerned about his ability to downshift to a bullpen role or simply want to do right by the player and find him an opportunity to continue working out of a rotation, a trade in the next week would make sense.