MLB Insider Believes Dodgers Can Trade for 'Whatever Player They Want'

MLB Insider Believes Dodgers Can Trade for 'Whatever Player They Want' originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are almost always the source of criticism whenever conversations revolving around MLB player salaries are brought up.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers reported that a record nine teams' payrolls went above the league's luxury tax threshold, which was set at $237 million, in 2024. Of those nine teams, the Dodgers paid $103,016,896 in luxury taxes, the most of any franchise.

Paying that money was collateral damage for building arguably the deepest lineup and starting rotation in baseball, even though injuries and a lack of production throughout the year have hampered both. That still won't stop the Dodgers from being buyers ahead of the trade deadline, and they have plenty of prospects in their pipeline that can serve as attractive assets for selling teams.

Among those prospects, according to MLB insider Jim Callis, are four minor-leaguers with massive potential: Josue De Paula (the league's No. 22 prospect, per MLB Pipeline), Zyhir Hope (No. 30), Eduardo Quintero (No. 80), and Mike Sirota (No. 91).

"They have six guys on our Top 100 prospects list right now, four of them are outfielders. So, theoretically, you could trade a couple of those guys in the right deal, and they have outfield depth beyond that group," Callis said in a recent episode of the MLB Pipeline Podcast. "They have Alex Freeland at shortstop at Triple-A who hasn’t really had an opportunity to play in the big leagues. Jackson Ferris is one of the better lefties in the Minors, who’s not having his best year."

Given the talent already on the Dodgers' active roster, almost all of those players could be expendable at the trade deadline, as their paths to the big leagues are unclear. But the fact that the club has high-quality players at every level of the organization – with an ownership group unafraid of spending big dollars on its 26-man roster – puts them in a unique place in MLB's hierarchy, Callis said.

"They’ve got a bunch of super young talent, they have depth, they have upper-end talent, they obviously have the money to take on salary in whatever deal might be out there," Callis said. "So I would think that they're poised to pretty much go get whatever player they want to go get."

The Dodgers have yet to make a big splash ahead of this year's deadline, but if past seasons are any indication, it may not be long before the organization shakes up the baseball world again.

Related: Dodgers Predicted to 'Break Prospect Bank' for Athletics' Flamethrowing Closer

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.