The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired left-hander Kris Bubic from the Kansas City Royals on Monday in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Carlos Duran, a league source told The Athletic. Bubic, a 2025 All-Star, has not pitched since May 14 because of elbow soreness and developed shoulder soreness during a rehab outing, prompting the Royals to transfer him to the 60-day injured list. When healthy over the past four years Bubic produced a 3.04 ERA and better than a strikeout per inning, but shoulder and elbow problems have limited him to 213 innings in that span. This season Bubic logged a 4.11 ERA in nine starts with 51 strikeouts and 36 hits allowed in 50 1/3 innings before going down. The Dodgers sent Duran after adding him to their 40-man roster last month; Duran carried a 3.38 ERA in 37 Triple-A outings but was not a lock to survive upcoming 40-man cuts. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman had signaled the club was less likely to make big-league additions after trading for two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, but the club viewed Bubic as a low-risk, high-upside flier who could return to form and provide pitching depth. Bubic is eligible for free agency this winter, and the Dodgers cited precedent of teams acquiring injured pitchers who returned to help down the stretch as a rationale for the move.
Raising Royals4
