Dodgers Need to Trade For $45 Million All-Star Starting Pitcher, Says Insider

The Los Angeles Dodgers lineup faced Kansas City Royals right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo last weekend.

Lugo notched a win against the Dodgers, allowing no earned runs on four hits. The right-hander recorded eight strikeouts and issued five walks across 5.2 innings.

As the right-hander walked back to the Royals dugout, his teammates gave Lugo high fives for the stellar performance against the defending champions at Kauffman Stadium.

Lugo's 107-pitch outing last Saturday may have been an audition as ESPN's David Schoenfield urged the Dodgers to trade for the right-hander at the trade deadline.

"It's hard to believe the Dodgers might need another starting pitcher after all the money they've invested in their rotation, but we still don't know the season long prognosis for Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, although Glasnow has at least started a rehab assignment in Triple-A," Schoenfield writes. "The one thing we do know is the Dodgers have a system loaded with hitting prospects that might make them the team most capable of making this trade -- if they want to do it."

This season, Lugo is sporting a 2.74 ERA with 76 strikeouts and 1.083 WHIP across 15 starts this season. His ERA+ of 151 is well above league average, and he could be a viable solution for a depleted Dodgers rotation.

However, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the Dodgers have a "strong desire" not to trade for a starter this summer.

“I’m still optimistic,” Friedman said. “It requires guys coming back on or close to the timelines that we have penciled out. We have shown that, if we’re not in position to do that, we’ll be aggressive to add. But our strong desire is not to.”

If the Dodgers' internal options don't meet their timelines, it would force the the front office to once again pursue a starter this summer. At last year's trade deadline, general manager Brandon Gomes managed to land Jack Flaherty.

Could the Dodgers once again land a reliable starter such as Lugo? It wouldn't be surprising if they did.