Dodgers add catching depth at deadline, acquire All-Star starter Kris Bubic from Royals
Even after adding back-to-back American League Cy Young Tarik Skubal over the weekend, the Los Angeles Dodgers continued to bolster their already stellar roster ahead of Monday's trade deadline.
They added further pitching depth in established starting pitcher Kris Bubic and brought back two familiar faces behind the dish as their quest for back-to-back-to-back World Series titles continues.
Dodgers add starting pitcher Kris Bubic from Kansas City
After seven years with the Kansas City Royals, left-handed starter Kris Bubic is on the move to Los Angeles.
Bubic, 28, was an All-Star in 2025 after hurling 116 and 1/3 innings for Kansas City, during which he had 116 strikeouts and a 2.55 ERA. He's missed a large part of the 2026 season due to injury, but has recently begun his rehabilitation.
Over the course of his career, he's 22-38 with a 4.14 ERA, 1.387 WHIP and 495 Ks in 522 innings pitched. He's due to be a free agent at the end of the season for the first time.
The move appears to be solely for depth, as the Boys in Blue already tout the league's deepest pitching staff with Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmett Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.
In return, the Dodgers sent 25-year-old pitcher Carlos Duran to Kansas City. The 6-foot-7 righty has been in the minors since 2018 and most recently played with the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate, where he had a 3.38 ERA, 61 strikeouts and a 1.430 WHIP over 42 and 2/3 innings.
Familiar faces Rortvedt and Feduccia return to Los Angeles
The Dodgers made two other moves on Monday, swapping minor leaguers in exchange for Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia, who had both already spent time with the franchise.
In their first move of the day, the Dodgers sent right-handed pitcher Chayce McDermott to the New York Mets for Rortvedt. He most recently played with Los Angeles in 2025 and was part of their World Series-winning roster.
A second-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft, the 28-year-old was picked up by the Mets over the winter after he was placed on waivers. He didn't make any appearances with the big league team in 2026, spending the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, New York. In 48 minor league games, he's hitting .235 with six homers and 26 RBIs.
McDermott was recently designated for assignment after making just two appearances for the Dodgers, in which he had a 7.71 ERA in just over two innings.
Just before the deadline passed, it was announced that the Dodgers had also acquired Hunter Feduccia back from the Tampa Bay Rays, to whom they traded him in 2025 as part of the deal that initially brought Rortvedt to Los Angeles.
Feduccia, 29, had only appeared in seven games with the Dodgers before they traded him to Tampa Bay. Since then, he's played in 96 games and has a career average of .207 with two home runs and 21 RBIs.
The Dodgers also received 23-year-old minor league pitcher Jacob Kmatz in the deal. The fifth-round pick in 2024 has a 2.89 ERA and 74 strikeouts over 53 innings with two of Tampa Bay's minor league teams. He most recently appeared in Double-A ball and was ranked as the Rays 27th best prospect at the time of the trade.
In exchange, the Rays will receive outfielder Jack Suwinski and $250,000 in international bonus pool money.
Suwinski, 28, has appeared in the bigs this season. After back-to-back impressive seasons to start his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which included a career-high 26 homers in 2023, he's yet to return to that level of play.
The Dodgers had previously scooped him up over the winter when he was designated for assignment by the Pirates. In Triple-A this season, Suwinski is slashing .291/.386/.562 and has 21 homers and 72 RBIs.