{"id":422958,"date":"2026-08-03T20:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/422958\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T20:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:20:15","slug":"dodgers-acquire-ben-rortvedt-and-kris-bubic-in-trade-deadline-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/422958\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers acquire Ben Rortvedt and Kris Bubic in trade-deadline deals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHICAGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Dodgers<\/a> added catching depth on Monday with a familiar name.<\/p>\n

They acquired journeyman backstop Ben Rortvedt<\/a> from the Mets for right-hander Chayce McDermott, the team announced hours before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

The move marked the third time in a little over a year that the Dodgers have acquired Rortvedt. They also traded for him before the deadline last year and claimed him off waivers for several days in February.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers designated McDermott for assignment on Friday in the midst of a reliever shuffle to prepare for a bullpen game.<\/p>\n

The team felt comfortable with backup catcher Dalton Rushing<\/a> taking on the bulk of the catching duties while catcher Will Smith<\/a> continues to work back from a lingering neck injury that\u2019s kept him sidelined since early June. But depth at the physically taxing position is always valuable.<\/p>\n

That point was highlighted Sunday, when the Dodgers scratched Rushing from the lineup<\/a> with what they called minor arm irritation.<\/p>\n

In Rortvedt, the Dodgers bring in an experienced catcher who is familiar with their pitching staff back into the organization. Not on the Mets\u2019 40-man roster, Rortvedt has spent the season in triple-A Syracuse, where he posted a .733 OPS.<\/p>\n

As the hours ticked closer to the trade deadline, the Dodgers also acquired left-hander Kris Bubic from the Royals on Monday, a person with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly confirmed. In return, the Dodgers sent back right-hander Carlos Duran.<\/p>\n

Bubic, who was an All-Star last year, was on the 60-day IL with the Royals. Left elbow soreness initially sidelined him in mid-May, but shoulder soreness set back his ramp-up while he was on a minor-league rehab assignment. He\u2019s since started a new throwing progression.<\/p>\n

Bubic posted a 4.11 ERA in nine starts before landing on the IL. But he\u2019s not far removed from a 2025 season that featured a 90th-percentile chase rate of 32.5%, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n

Duran owned a 3.38 ERA with triple-A Oklahoma City. His departure opens a spot on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Dodgers added catching depth on Monday with a familiar name. They acquired journeyman backstop Ben Rortvedt from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18954,44820,31682,3560,426,23932,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,44639,168779,168778,2699,149569,427,168777,3578],"class_list":["post-422958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ben-rortvedt","tag-bold-move","tag-depth","tag-dodger","tag-dodgers","tag-innings","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-mets","tag-neck-injury","tag-recent-recovery-progress","tag-return","tag-right-hander-chayce-mcdermott","tag-team","tag-trade-deadline-deal","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}