The Dodgers may spend the winter chasing Tarik Skubal, but he’s hardly the only arm that could reshape their rotation plans. If the big prize slips away, Los Angeles may not simply move down the board to the next marquee name. According to Dodgers insiders Katie Woo and Fabian Ardaya, the more likely pivot would be toward depth - the kind of starter who helps steady a staff that rarely gets through a season at full strength.
That approach makes sense even if Skubal does end up elsewhere. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are strong bets to miss more starts than they make, Shohei Ohtani’s injury history is a concern, and his value in the lineup makes it hard to push him too hard on the mound. The Dodgers also want to use a six-man rotation as often as possible, which makes extra rotation-capable arms more than a luxury.
And while the Dodgers do have some depth already, it comes with real questions. Emmet Sheehan closed strong, putting up a 3.90 ERA over his final 30 innings, but he had a 4.81 ERA before that.
Justin Wrobleski was fairly steady in 2026, though more may still be required. Gavin Stone is another option, but injury concerns follow him too.
So if Los Angeles goes shopping in the middle tier, who makes sense? Here’s a look at five possible targets.
Clay Holmes sits at the top of the list because he looks like the safest bet. Since moving back into a starting role in 2025, Holmes has made 49 starts, thrown 262⅓ innings and posted a 3.50 ERA.
He’s also been a ground-ball machine, with a 57.3% rate over that stretch. There’s another layer to his appeal, too: he has plenty of closing experience and could be moved back to the bullpen in October, when the Dodgers always seem to need help there.
He won’t come cheap, but compared with Skubal, he’d be a bargain and would raise both the floor and ceiling of the staff.
Matthew Boyd comes next as the crafty left-hander who just keeps finding ways to get outs. He’s not the most durable arm on the market, and he’s not the most overpowering either, but he’s been healthier over the last two seasons than he was from 2020 through 2024.
Boyd’s first year in Chicago looked like a top-three starter season, with a 3.21 ERA and 3.65 FIP. This year was more in the range of a No. 4 or No. 5 starter, as he finished with a 3.91 ERA and 4.21 FIP.
Casey Mize brings the kind of name recognition that comes with being the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, and there have been stretches when he’s looked the part. He posted a 2.70 ERA with the Tigers before being traded to the Padres, then opened 2025 with a 3.15 ERA in the first half.
But the finish was rough. Mize had a 4.92 ERA down the stretch in 2025 and then was hit hard in San Diego, where he put up a 7.46 mark over 10 starts.
He’s the classic boom-or-bust play, and that makes the price tag a real question.
Tyler Mahle offers more upside, but the durability concerns are hard to ignore. Over his nine post-trade-deadline starts with the Atlanta Braves, he was electric, posting a 1.99 ERA.
He carried that into October, where he turned in a 1.35 ERA in his first postseason action this year. Still, the 32-year-old has a long injury history.
He made 27 starts and logged 149 innings this season, but over the previous three years he totaled just 24 starts. If the Dodgers want upside and are willing to live with the risk, Mahle fits that mold.
David Peterson rounds out the group as a dependable back-end option. He had been that kind of starter for most of his career, then watched things unravel with the Mets in 2026, when he posted a 6.09 ERA.
After a trade to the Cubs, though, he settled in and threw 80⅓ innings with a 3.70 ERA. Take out a disastrous 10-run outing against the St.
Louis Cardinals on July 3, and his run in Chicago looks even stronger. Peterson’s profile is built on a ground-ball rate above 50% and a roughly league-average strikeout rate, which is exactly the sort of steady production a team can use to soak up innings.
For the Dodgers, the bigger picture is clear: if they can’t land the headliner, there’s still value in building out the middle of the rotation. With the way their staff is constructed, depth may be the smarter target anyway.
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The Dodgers are already looking ahead to how they patch up the infield after a pair of familiar faces moved on, and the early free-agent market has given them a couple of practical options. According to The Athletic, Los Angeles has shown interest in Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Mauricio Dubon as it weighs how to replace the departures of Miguel Rojas, who retired, and Kike Hernandez, who is now a free agent.
Both players bring the kind of flexibility the Dodgers tend to value, with the club evaluating not just defense but whether either can add enough offense to make the fit worthwhile. It is the sort of decision that can quietly shape a roster for months, especially for a team that likes to keep its bench and infield mix adaptable, and the next move will say plenty about how aggressively the Dodgers want to address that opening. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers May Be Letting A Rival Steal A Major Rotation Prize
Tarik Skubal has quickly become one of the most closely watched names on the market, with the Dodgers among the clubs circling as they weigh how far to go for a frontline arm. Los Angeles has been tied to a short-term, high-value approach, which fits the way the club often balances urgency with long-term flexibility, but it is not the only contender in the mix. The Mets, Padres and Blue Jays are also involved, turning this into the kind of bidding situation that can move fast once one team decides to push harder.
The Blue Jays, in particular, appear capable of changing the conversation if they decide to lean into a longer-term proposal, the sort of structure they reportedly explored with Kyle Tucker. That leaves the Dodgers in an interesting spot, interested but maybe not yet as aggressive as some of the other suitors. With talks still ongoing, the question is whether Los Angeles is waiting for the market to come to it or whether a rival is about to set the pace on one of the winters biggest rotation prizes. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Face One Contract Problem In Tarik Skubal Pursuit
Tarik Skubals arrival last season gave the Dodgers exactly what they hoped for when they swung the trade, and he backed it up with strong work in both the regular season and the postseason. So it is no surprise that Los Angeles is expected to stay in the mix if the left-hander reaches free agency, especially for a club that has never shied away from chasing elite talent when it believes the fit is right.
The complication is the kind that can shape an entire winter: money. The Dodgers have to weigh the expected cost of a long-term Skubal deal against broader financial concerns, including the possibility of a future MLB salary cap, and that could make them more cautious than usual about how far they go. Even with their track record of landing top free agents, this is the sort of contract decision that can force a team to choose between staying aggressive and protecting its long-term flexibility. [Read more 🡒]