Dodgers Acquire Kris Bubic From Royals

Did you really think Tarik Skubal was going to be it for the Los Angeles Dodgers? Over the weekend, manager Dave Roberts and POBO Andrew Friedman downplayed the possibility of making any more notable additions to their roster. Yeah, right.

Today, the Dodgers and Kansas City Royals came together on a trade that will send 2025 All-Star Kris Bubic to L.A. in exchange for minor league right-hander Carlos Duran. (ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report the deal, while Mark Feinsand of MLB.com revealed the return.)

No, this isn’t a blockbuster on par with the Skubal trade. The prospect return even pales in comparison to the Royals’ Lane Thomas/Bailey Falter deal with the Braves. Still, this is a significant trade that could have big implications for the Dodgers in October.

Bubic is a rental, set to hit free agency at the end of the year. He made nine starts (with mixed results) before landing on the injured list in May with elbow soreness. Just as his elbow improved enough for the lefty to start a rehab assignment, soreness flared up in his shoulder and shut him down again.

This is a player who has dealt with serious elbow and shoulder injuries in the past, too. There’s no guarantee he makes it back on the field before the end of the season.

That’s why Bubic was so cheap to acquire. Duran isn’t a top prospect. The Dodgers first traded him to the Athletics for Esteury Ruiz in 2025. He rejoined the Dodgers on a minor league contract last winter.

Duran’s control is so concerning that none of the things he does well really matter. The righty’s 14.3% walk rate at Triple-A this season actually marks an improvement; he walked 18.7% of his minor league opponents in 2025. In his lone MLB appearance for the A’s last May, he issued free passes to three of the five batters he faced.

Maybe the Royals can help him figure things out, but he wasn’t going to play a role for the Dodgers down the stretch. No chance.

The fact that the Royals were willing to part with Bubic in exchange for Duran and a little salary relief is telling. However, it doesn’t tell the full story.

Kris Bubic Offers Immense Upside for a Dollar Store Price

A former top prospect, Bubic struggled in his first few seasons before going under the knife for Tommy John. When he returned as a reliever halfway through the 2024 campaign, he looked like a whole new pitcher. He struck out nearly one-third of his opponents, pitching to a 2.67 ERA, a 1.87 xERA, and a 7.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The southpaw transitioned back to a starting role in 2025, and for the first half of the season, he looked like a legitimate contender for the AL Cy Young. At the break, he ranked sixth in the AL with a 2.48 ERA. His 3.2 FanGraphs WAR ranked third.

Bubic was named to the AL All-Star team that summer, alongside future pitching staff-mates of his like Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Edwin Díaz, and Shohei Ohtani. (By my count, Bubic becomes the 10th pitcher on the Dodgers’ roster with an All-Star selection. That’s two pitchers away from being an actual All-Star team.)

Unfortunately, a rotator cuff strain ended his season in July. Even so, what Bubic did in 20 starts was enough for him to finish among MLB’s top 25 pitchers in fWAR. And that wasn’t eons ago. It was last year. Twelve months ago, we were talking about this guy like one of the best pitchers in baseball.

In a worst-case scenario, Bubic can’t get healthy and never pitches for the Dodgers. So what? They only took on a few million dollars in salary (that’s nothing to this team) and gave up a depth arm they were probably going to cut anyway.

In a best-case scenario, the Dodgers will get to add an All-Star-caliber arm to their staff down the stretch. That’s more than worth the minimal risk they’re taking on. If Bubic is even half the pitcher he was the last time he returned from an injury and joined a bullpen, the Dodgers will be grateful.

This won’t be the deadline trade everyone is talking about tomorrow. But if Bubic helps the Dodgers to a World Series three-peat, we could be talking about this deal for years to come.