The Dodgers made a notable bullpen move Wednesday, officially activating left-hander Kris Bubic for what will be his first appearance in Los Angeles and clearing space by sending right-hander Paul Gervase to Triple-A Oklahoma City. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, the club designated outfielder Ryan Ward for assignment.
Bubic, 29, was acquired from the Kansas City Royals ahead of this year’s trade deadline and has been on the 60-day injured list since May because of elbow and shoulder injuries. He is now back after a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City that included six scoreless outings, nine strikeouts and 5.2 innings.
The left-hander gives the Dodgers another option in the bullpen and will be auditioning for a postseason role as a left-handed reliever. He’s coming off an All-Star 2025 season in which he posted a 2.55 ERA with 116 strikeouts across 20 starts and 116.1 innings. Before that, he worked out of the Royals’ bullpen in 2024, logging a 2.67 ERA in 27 appearances with 39 strikeouts over 30.1 innings.
This season with Kansas City, Bubic made nine starts and put up a 4.11 ERA while striking out 51 and walking 26 in 50.1 innings. Over parts of seven major league seasons, all with the Royals before the trade, he has a 4.14 ERA with 495 strikeouts in 522 innings across 126 appearances, 89 of them starts. In the postseason, he has made four relief appearances, all in 2024, and allowed one run in 4.2 innings for a 1.93 ERA.
Bubic was drafted by Kansas City in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft and is set to reach free agency after the 2026 season. He said last month that the trade caught him off guard, but he understood the situation.
“I kind of know where I’m at in my career, the rental status and all that, but obviously I hadn’t pitched in a little over two months when the deadline came,” Bubic said last month.
“So I was a little bit surprised. I knew it was going to be a team having to take a little bit of a flier, given that I haven’t been on a big league mound in a little bit. But thankfully, obviously the Dodgers see some value that we can kind of tinker with here in the next few weeks and then provide any help I can down the stretch.
“It’s exciting. Like I said, seeing the success this organization has had as a whole, especially over the last few years, getting to play against some of these guys in previous years and now getting to be on this side is going to be pretty exciting.”
Ward’s departure is the most jarring part of the roster shuffle. The Dodgers drafted him in the eighth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, and he spent eight years in the organization before this move. After reaching Triple-A in 2023, he spent the full 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons there and won Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player in 2025.
He finally got his first big league shot this year, appearing in 20 games over two stints and hitting .218 with three home runs, 12 RBIs and an OPS of .738. After his first call-up, Ward talked about the work he’d put in to improve his approach.
“I've done a lot of work, especially in the last two years, changing the chase rate, getting the walk again, getting on base more, getting myself into better counts, and doing more damage in those counts,” Ward said after his first MLB call-up. “It’s been a lot of work, and honestly, sitting here right now thinking about it, it feels like it went by fast. But when I was down there, it felt like a long time.”
Now 28, Ward had been viewed as a possible trade chip in recent years while waiting for a steadier path to the majors. Instead, he’s headed to waivers after being DFA’d.
Gervase, who was recalled Monday and did not appear in a game, has a 2.35 ERA in 7.2 innings in the majors this season and a 4.56 ERA in 47.1 innings at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
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