
The Dodgers are trading reliever Ryan Brasier to the Cubs, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Chicago is sending a player to be named later in return, reports Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Los Angeles had designated the veteran righty for assignment on Thursday when they finalized the Kirby Yates signing. Teams have five days following a DFA to trade a player, so the Dodgers needed to find a deal by tonight or put Brasier on waivers. The Cubs have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once the trade is announced.
Brasier is quite a bit better than most players who end up in DFA limbo. The veteran righty had a strong season and a half in Los Angeles. He signed a minor league deal midway through the 2023 season after being let go by the Red Sox. Brasier had a dominant finish, turning in a 0.70 earned run average across 38 2/3 innings with Los Angeles. The Dodgers retained him on a two-year, $9MM free agent contract.
The 37-year-old was never going to replicate his late-season ’23 numbers. He had another decent year when healthy, working to a 3.54 ERA with a league average 22.7% strikeout percentage. Brasier kept his walk rate to a tidy 4.5% clip, in large part because he got opponents to chase 40% of pitches off the plate.
Health was the biggest caveat. Brasier suffered a significant strain of his right calf in late April. He was shelved into the middle of August and limited to 28 innings on the season. He had an excellent second half but was nevertheless relegated to low-leverage appearances during L.A.’s World Series run. Brasier allowed five runs with seven strikeouts and three walks across nine playoff innings.
The DFA is less a reflection of Brasier of “losing” his job and much more about L.A.’s bullpen depth. They added Tanner Scott and Yates after re-signing Blake Treinen. They join Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips and Alex Vesia as bullpen locks. The Dodgers are going to run a six-man rotation, meaning they can only devote seven roster spots to relievers.
Brasier has well over five years of major league service. He cannot be sent to the minor leagues without his consent. The Dodgers could go back to an eight-man bullpen once Shohei Ohtani returns to the rotation, since Ohtani doesn’t count against their 13-pitcher limit as a two-way player. They’re not going to push Ohtani’s elbow rehab merely to get another bullpen spot, so there’s probably only one available if all their relievers are healthy coming out of camp. Anthony Banda is out of options and seems likely to grab the final relief job.
The Cubs don’t have a ton of roster flexibility with their bullpen either. Chicago acquired Ryan Pressly last week. He’ll close games. Brasier joins Porter Hodge and Tyson Miller as high-leverage righties in front of Pressly. The Cubs added Caleb Thielbar on a $2.75MM free agent deal earlier in the winter; he projects as their top left-hander. Colin Rea is probably ticketed for long relief work.
That’d account for six of eight ’pen slots if everyone’s healthy. Eli Morgan and Nate Pearson may be next on the depth chart, but they both have a minor league option remaining. That isn’t the case for Julian Merryweather, Keegan Thompson or Rob Zastryzny. They’d each need to be in the majors or be designated for assignment. Thompson’s swing-and-miss ability probably gives him a leg up among that trio.
Brasier will make $4.5MM for the upcoming season. He’ll be a free agent at year’s end. It’s unclear if the Dodgers are kicking in cash or if the Cubs agreed to take on the entire salary. The Dodgers will save 110% in taxes on whatever money they managed to offload. If the Cubs take on the entire salary, that’ll push them to around $211MM in luxury tax obligations (courtesy of RosterResource). That puts them $30MM shy of the base threshold.
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