Dodgers Make Second Bullpen Swap, Trade Dylan Floro To Marlins For Two Pitchers

Image credit: Dylan Floro (Sean Haffey/Gettty)

The Dodgers bullpen is going to be without some familiar faces in 2021. 

A few hours after trading lefty specialist Adam Kolarek to the Athletics, the Dodgers shipped righthander Dylan Floro to the Marlins on Wednesday in exchange for pitching prospects Alex Vesia and Kyle Hurt.

Floro, 30, posted a 3.10 ERA in 104 appearances with the Dodgers over the last two and a half seasons. The Marlins will be his fifth team in six seasons in the majors.

Vesia and Hurt, meanwhile, give the Dodgers two additional pitching prospects to add to their already deep farm system. 

DODGERS ACQUIRE:

Alex Vesia, LHP
Age: 24

An unheralded 17th-round pick out of Division II Cal State East Bay in 2018, Vesia outpitched his draft pedigree and reached the majors in two years. He made five relief appearances with the Marlins last season, although he got hit hard with three home runs allowed in only 4.1 innings and more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five). Vesia relies heavily on his 91-93 mph fastball with a lot of vertical movement, but his out-pitch is a mid-80s slider that gets lots of chase swings and misses from lefthanded batters. He also has a changeup that helped him handle righties in the minors, but it was not particularly effective in his first major league stint. Vesia had trouble throwing strikes in the majors, but he had no such issues in the minors with 138 strikeouts and 26 walks in 100 innings. If he can regain that control, his slider should at least make him a valuable relief weapon against lefties. His past success against righties in the minors provides hope he can be more than just a lefty specialist and won’t be limited by the three-batter minimum. 

Kyle Hurt, RHP
Age: 22

Hurt flashed some of the best stuff on the West Coast at USC but also had a career 5.06 ERA because he struggled to put together more than a few good innings at a time. He began to turn a corner at the end of his sophomore year and showed more improvement as a junior in 2020 before the college season shut down, leading the Marlins to draft him in the fifth round. Hurt’s fastball sits at 92-94 mph and touches 95-96, and he backs it up with a plus changeup and feel to spin an average curveball and slider. Hurt’s fastball is extremely straight, however, and he struggles to locate it. His heater is often out of the strike zone, and when it is in the strike zone, it gets hit. He commands his secondaries better than his fastball, particularly his changeup, and often has to rely on those. Hurt’s below-average command precludes him from starting, but he throws enough quality strikes in one- or two-inning flashes for evaluators to view him as a potential hard-throwing reliever with a swing-and-miss changeup. He’ll make his pro debut in 2021. 

MARLINS ACQUIRE

Dylan Floro, RHP
Age: 30

Floro came to the Dodgers in a 2018 deadline trade with the Reds and established himself as a reliable low-leverage reliever. His 93-96 mph sinker keeps the ball on the ground and he avoids self-inflicted mistakes like walks, hit batters and wild pitches. While not flashy, Floro gives the Marlins a reliable option in a bullpen that finished with a 5.50 ERA last season, fifth-worst in the major leagues. He is under team control for the next three seasons and won’t be a free agent until after 2023.