CINCINNATI -- The Dodgers ended up buying and selling off one piece ahead of Thursday's Trade Deadline, addressing their key areas of need in the bullpen and outfield while also dealing Dustin May to the Red Sox in exchange for two prospects.
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The Dodgers needed to make a decision on what to do with May, who will hit free agency after this season and did not have a clear role going forward. He earned the fifth starter job out of Spring Training and did not miss an outing, but the impending return of Blake Snell meant that there was no longer a place for May in the rotation. The team also was not confident about the idea of shifting May into a short-burst relief role. His fit in the bullpen was unclear as well.
TRADE DETAILS
Dodgers get: OFs James Tibbs III (Red Sox No. 5 prospect) and Zach Ehrhard (No. 27)
Red Sox get: RHP Dustin May
General manager Brandon Gomes said the front office had "respectful conversations" with May, through which it became clear that starting games was important to him.
"While we felt like he could have been a contributor out of the bullpen and an impact-type piece," Gomes said, "trying to understand the mindset and his desire to continue to start, we took that into consideration. And if there was a deal that we felt like made sense, we were going to be open to do it."
May did not request to be traded, Gomes said.
In five prior big league seasons, May had a hard time staying on the field. His time in the Majors has been derailed by two major surgeries on his throwing elbow, as well as an emergency procedure to repair a tear in his esophagus last summer. After everything he has gone through, May became one of the Dodgers' most durable starting pitchers this season.
While May has stayed healthy this year, he hasn't been consistent, posting a 4.85 ERA across 19 appearances (18 starts). At 104 innings, he's long exceeded his previous single-season career high of 56 in 2020.
Taking into consideration both his workload and the state of the Dodgers' rotation, May was likely looking at a second-half role change one way or another. In his only outing that was not a start, May followed Shohei Ohtani, pitching 4 2/3 scoreless innings of long relief.
Following his previous start last Sunday in Boston -- against his new team -- May was set to be available out of the bullpen starting this weekend, had he remained with the Dodgers. But he's expected to be used as a starter with the Red Sox.
Tibbs, 22, was a first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft whom the Red Sox acquired as part of the return from the Giants in the Rafael Devers trade. Gomes noted that if he had fallen to the Dodgers, they likely would have taken him. He made the jump to the Double-A level when he joined Boston’s organization, hitting .207 with a .586 OPS in 30 games.
Ehrhard, 22, was Boston's fourth-round pick in last year's Draft. He began his first pro season at the High-A level before moving up to Double-A, where he hit .227 with a .717 OPS and 16 stolen bases in 58 games.
“We're excited about adding both of those guys as future talent," Gomes said, "and hopefully factoring at some point down the line in the big leagues with us.”