The Rockies and Dodgers lined up on an intra-division trade that’ll see hard-throwing righty Seth Halvorsen go from Colorado to L.A. in exchange for minor league righty Nick Frasso and minor league outfielder Landyn Vidourek. The teams have announced the swap. Halvorsen is on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation at the moment, so he’ll head to Triple-A Oklahoma City to finish off a rehab assignment he recently started. The Dodgers can then decide whether to formally option him upon his activation or bring him right to the major league bullpen.
The 26-year-old Halvorsen brings mammoth fastball velocity, shaky command and more than five seasons of club control to the Dodgers. Colorado’s seventh-round pick back in 2023, he appeared in the majors barely a year after being drafted and has now amassed 71 innings across parts of three major league seasons. He’s posted a pedestrian 4.31 ERA in that time but done so with big velocity (99.6 mph average on the four-seamer), a sharp 12.4% swinging-strike rate and a strong 48.8% ground-ball rate. Halvorsen has walked a bloated 12.1% of his opponents and been far too homer-prone (1.52 HR/9), but there are a lot of interesting components in his profile.
Halvorsen sports an unappealing 4.74 ERA in 19 major league innings this season, but he’s posted a 2.04 ERA, 32.4% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 45.2% grounder rate while averaging an absurd 99.9 mph on his heater in 17 1/3 Triple-A innings. This is the first season in which he’s used a minor league option. He’ll have two more option years remaining after this one.
Halvorsen joins the Dodgers as something of a development project, but that’s an area in which L.A. has excelled. They’ve expended relatively humble acquisition costs to add players like Evan Phillips, Will Klein, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda and others in recent years, going on to coax strong bullpen performances from all of them. That’s not an exhaustive list of every Dodgers bullpen success story, and there are plenty of misses along the way as well, but the organization has a clear competency when it comes to unlocking bigger performances from talented-but-unestablished bullpen arms of this nature.
Addressing the bullpen isn’t a dire need for the Dodgers, but that’s to be expected for a team with a Major League Baseball-best 63-37 record. Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily have many glaring deficiencies, but every contender is always on the hunt for bullpen help. Bringing in an arm with this type of power repertoire and remaining club control/minor league options is all the more appealing.
Halvorsen joins several important Dodgers relievers on the major league injured list. Edwin Díaz has been out since late April after having a bone spur removed from his elbow. Blake Treinen hit the injured list in mid-June due to elbow inflammation. Brusdar Graterol hasn’t pitched this season and underwent back surgery on June 1. Ben Casparius, a vital arm for the ’25 Dodgers, has been out since mid-April due to shoulder inflammation.
The current bullpen group remains strong. Tanner Scott is enjoying a rebound season and has more than capably filled the closer role for the injured Díaz. Klein, Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer all have earned run averages under 3.00. Henriquez and Vesia are at 2.25 and 2.14, respectively. It’s a strong group that’ll only get even deeper if Díaz can make a full recovery. That said, Henriquez is the only member of this group who can match — or, in his case, exceed — Halvorsen’s velocity.
In exchange for a high-upside, highly volatile bullpen play in Halvorsen, the Rockies will acquire a former top-100 prospect (Frasso) and a player the Dodgers selected in the third round just last summer (Vidourek). Colorado general manager Josh Byrnes — second on the team’s baseball ops hierarchy behind president Paul DePodesta — is eminently familiar with both players. Byrnes, who was hired this past offseason, spent more than a decade in the Dodgers’ front office as their senior vice president of baseball operations.
Frasso, 27, has yet to pitch in the majors (though he does have two days of MLB service). He’s a 2020 fourth-round pick (Blue Jays) that the Dodgers originally acquired in the 2022 trade sending right-hander Mitch White to Toronto. Two years later, Frasso cracked the back end of the top-100 lists at MLB.com (No. 80), Baseball America (No. 97) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 79).
Injuries have frequently set Frasso back. Not long after cracking those top-100 rankings, he wound up requiring surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. That spring injury naturally wiped out his entire 2024 campaign.
Frasso, who’d been a starter up until that point in his minor league career, returned in 2025 and pitched 77 innings with diminished results during a season split between starting and relieving. A late-May move to the ‘pen didn’t do much to improve Frasso’s middling ERA, but his strikeout and walk rates improved dramatically in relief. He’d been sitting between 14-15% in both categories but jumped to 23.4% and 10.7% upon being moved to the ‘pen full time.
This year, Frasso has worked exclusively as a reliever (except for a 1 2/3-inning “start” as an opener) and posted a 4.74 ERA with a massive 35.1% strikeout rate against an ugly 14.9% walk rate. Further distancing himself from that 2024 surgery has restored some life to his arsenal. He sat 94.6 mph on his four-seamer in 2025 but is at 96.2 mph so far in 2026. His swinging-strike rate has jumped from 9.3% to a hearty 12.7%. His opponents’ chase rate has surged from a poor 24.5% to a strong 33%; opponents have gone from a 78.1% contact rate to just 72%. The ERA might not be much to look at, but beyond the shoddy command, Frasso has been dogged by a through-the-roof .407 average on balls in play — despite holding opponents to an average exit velocity of only 87.1 mph and a paltry 32.1% hard-hit rate.
Since Frasso has yet to make his major league debut, he still has his entire slate of club control remaining. The Rockies could call him up to the majors and control him for six seasons beyond the current one — all the way through 2032. Frasso is already in his final minor league option year, however, so he’ll need to break camp with the team in 2027 or else be traded or exposed to waivers. With that in mind, it’d behoove the Rox to get a real look at him in the season’s final couple months.
The 22-year-old Vidourek is a toolsy but contact-challenged outfielder whom the Dodgers took with the No. 104 overall pick last summer. He’s hitting just .170/.332/.311 in 256 Low-A plate appearances this season, due in no small part to a massive 38.7% swinging-strike rate.
Vidourek draws praise for above-average raw power, plus speed and a plus-plus arm in the outfield. The University of Cincinnati product also posted standout exit velocity, barrel rates and hard-hit rates in his brief minor league career. When Vidourek does make contact, it’s typically impactful, but he’ll need to substantially reduce his swing-and-miss to have hope of becoming a regular.
The Dodgers have been playing Vidourek in center field this season. FanGraphs noted back in December that he was likelier to end up in right field as he continues to fill out an athletic 6’1″, 192-pound frame. Baseball America touted his 70-grade throwing arm as the best in the Dodgers’ entire system.
There’s a lot to like with Vidourek, but the penchant for whiffs is a glaring, prominent red flag. Given his blend of power, speed and defense, Vidourek doesn’t need to suddenly develop a plus hit tool in order to become a potential regular in the majors, but the current rate of whiffs — particularly in the low minors — simply won’t cut it.
Vidourek has the potential to substantially (and quickly) improve his stock if he can hone his bat-to-ball skills, but the Dodgers were willing to take that risk due not only to their desire to acquire a controllable high-octane reliever but also to the outfield depth in the system overall. Center fielder Andy Pages is controlled through the 2030 season, and the Dodgers incredibly have three outfielders ranked inside the top 20 on Baseball America’s latest top-100 list: Josue De Paula (No. 4), Mike Sirota (No. 14) and Eduardo Quintero (No. 18). Zyhir Hope, ranked No. 55 at BA, gives the Dodgers a fourth high-profile outfield prospect. The Rockies aren’t nearly as deep in outfield prospects — or prospects in general — so they’ll buy an extremely tooled-up prospect in hopes of catching him before his stock soars.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported that Halvorsen was being traded to the Dodgers for a pair of minor leaguers. His colleague, Jon Heyman, first reported the names of the two prospects.
They will use him for parts.
Sure they did he throws 103 MPH.
What players would it take from the Cardinals to acquire SP Ryan from the Twins???
Dodgers are ruining baseball again…
They never ruined baseball lol
Sarcasm
28 other teams could’ve easily made this trade. If Dodgers can develop Seth than their superior player development does not ruin baseball.
Exactly. The narrative they’re ruining baseball is old. Every team can spend tons. The dodgers play well within the same rules as everyone else can. Dodgers choose to win by all means and most teams want to just profit without spending. That’s not the dodgers fault
Gimme a break, homers. They always had a strong farm system but the absurd amount of money they’re spending has absolutely got them their World Series titles.
Sniff Sniff
Dodgers never pick in the MLB draft very high, seem always in the lower or bottom of the draft. They seem to select certain players that take their potenial to the next level you can look back to the 70’s when they had a infield of Cey at 3rd, Russell at short, Lopes at 2nd and Garvey at first, Yeager was the catcher. All were drafted by the Dodgers, face it they know who to draft and will take instruction well, so what it comes down to is Scouting, Coaching the talent the player into a ML talent that produces on the field for years.
The ONLY player in the entire Dogers starting IF & OF is Pages.
Throw in Rushing /Will Smith and TWO.
The SP Staff has TWO Homegrown arms- Wrobleski & Sheehan.
The 70’s infield you speak of was 50 freaking years ago! – Good Grief man try reality on for size.
@Franklin Souza Which team are you fan of?
Every single MLB team has the ability to do what the dodgers do though. They choose not to. Doesn’t make them ruining baseball
Franklin:
You have forgotten the players the Dodgers get by trading their home grown talent. An obvious example is Mookie Betts traded for Alex Verdugo.
Also, when they land a free agent they don’t over pay. Example: Toronto offered as much for Ohtani.Free agents don’t reluctantly go to the Dodgers because of money. They enthusiasticly go to a brilliantly managed franchise that pays the market rate AND promises a deep playoff run every year.
You should also consider foreign players that could go anywhere but go the Dodgers. Example: Yamamoto and Sasaki.
No, I didn’t forget or fail to understand a thing.`
The suggestion was the Dogers are superior drafters & developers of homegrown talent.
This absurd assumption was supported by noteing the Dodgers Cey-Russel-Lopes-Garvey infield from 50 years ago as an example of this alleged unapparelled skill .
The reality only TWO players in the starting lineup AND TWO regular rotation SP’s ARE HOMEGROWN.
Red Sox – It’s kind of a genetic family tradition.
I do follow the Giants as my NL team after living in Bay Area for several years after six years of military service.
The Dodgers currently have 5 players in the Top 30 MLB prospects. They don’t have them because they drafted them.
They have Hope, Sirota, Tibbs, etc. because they drafted and developed players like Lux, Busch, May, etc, then traded for them. In two weeks they may trade some of these young talents for veterans they need this season.
This demonstrates that the Dodgers have spent the last decade being better at spotting and developing talent than most other teams. As a further example I note that they DRAFTED and DEVELOPED (as you would put it) into all-stars, players like Bellinger and Seager that aren’t on the current team roster because the Dodgers did not elect to pay their enormous and well earned free agent contracts aka granted them free agency.
The point being that when the defending two time champion also has the best current record and a top tier farm system it self demonstrates an extended record of excellence in talent spotting and development.
No I’m pretty sure not every team can defer 1.05 billion dollars amongst 8 players the next 18 years and pay a competitive payroll for two decades on top of it.
Many can. I bet the Padres wish they had deferred some of the large contracts they are burdened with.
They are paying those guys regardless. But it would help the team if they had done so. Maybe they offered a deferred contract to those guys and they said no.
That good players accept some deferrals to pay on the Dodgers only makes sense.
Boston could have kept Mookie, but they wanted to unload the Price contract even more.
Yeah right
MLB wouldn’t let the padres add extra years to an offer for Aaron Judge. They were ready to step in and veto that deal.
Padres probably chose extra years to lower the aav hit instead of deferrals cause they probably couldn’t afford to offer deferrals on that big of a scale.
But that’s because the Dodgers get plenty of money from partly owning their own TV deal, having massive branding and merch sales in Asia due to geographical luck, and deferring money. They always will have a steady revenue stream that other teams aren’t so lucky to have. Yes the Yankees, Phillies, Giants can do the same thing, but you can’t say 90% of teams like the Rays, Twins, Pirates, Royals can do the same. If they handed out a deals like the Dodgers then they’d be running in the red and that’s not good for business.
I don’t blame the Dodgers (except for deferring money which seems unfair based on each team’s financial capabilities), but I do blame MLBs rules that have allowed this to happen. Superteams are not good for sports in general and Ohtani personally created his own superteam. He doesn’t care about deferred money because he has brand deals back home. That’s why he joined an already talented team and made it into a superteam. It just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Having more money means having nicer facilities for players, higher signing bonuses, etc to attract FAs. Other teams can’t compete. Notice I didn’t mention their development because they do have amazing development staff that I’m incredibly jealous of. I can’t get angry at them for trading for the best players at trade deadline because they develop prospects the best in the league. So the Dodgers themselves aren’t ruining baseball, but the rules that allowed them to spend so much money and allow cheap owners to infiltrate the sport has.
See dodger fans tell you “oh any team can do this”
But they don’t. Not even the cbt tax payers
Mets Braves Blue Jays Phillies Yankees do it anywhere close to what the dodgers do.
Dodgers have 10 of the most deferrals ever offered on mlb contract in the history of the sport.
The other 5 cbt teams listed above? 6 combined between them all
So one has to wonder
What benefit do the dodgers get deferring all that money?
Why don’t other teams abuse the system the same way? They totally could esp the cbt teams but they don’t. Why. Maybe because there’s something prohibitive about using deferrals to that extent something dodgers deep pockets can make up for but not everyone can at those financial levels.
Like paying a competitive payroll in the 150-200 mill range and then being obligated to pay on average another 55 mill in deferral obligations.
Which is teams like the padres opt to use extra years to lower aav hits. Why they’ve given manny Darvish and others those extensions all those years. But soon as they were ready to abuse that system and sign aaron judge mlb was ready to step in and veto the agreement. Go figure.
They drafted Kershaw, Bellinger, Seager, Buehler, Lux, Jansen, May, Stripling, Verdugo, Eovaldi, Pederson, Gonsolin and Busch, plus a host of numerous other players/stars in scattered throughout mlb.
Yeah they can. That 1.05 billion in debt is going to be inflated out the water within a decade. That’s the gamble Dodgers are making. They are saying that MLB revenue will continue to soar, I mean Alex Rodriguez was the first player with a $300 million contract and now you got 2 with $700 million ones. That was just 15-20 years ago, in 15 years it will be commonplace for superstars to sign a billion dollar contract.
Clearly a Concern for the long term health of Shohei or this move would not have been done
You’re joking right?
It would be sad if he wasn’t. But I think he is.
Just heard that Shohei Ohtani will retire. Sad news.
MLB network is reportedly offering him a 5 year contract with 90% salary deferred. They’re creating a new show called “Shomei the odds” an MLB network original sports betting program. I’m hoping he can make me Ohtoni money
Rumor has it he might rehire his interpreter for a segment called Ippei Ki Yay focusing on high risk high reward bets
So much effort for a lame joke. Not sure if you tried too hard or not hard enough.
You responded that’s a win for me. Ty for acknowledging my efforts.
Dr Rob,
Efforting.
Settle down everyone I’ll sign autographs after the show promise. More comments more of an audience I always say.
I tried the veal. It was kinda tough.
That’s weird. We only have beef chicken and vegetarian options. We are a family friendly establishment. I don’t need Feds or rival competitors come looking for Tony soprano thinking I’m his business partner. Capeesh?
Someone passed off stringy chicken for veal? Now it’s starting to make sense. I just thought everything tastes like chicken…
Not that I would know this but
To make chicken taste and feel as rich and satisfying as red meat (like “veal”), try this: pound chicken breasts to an even thickness, coat them in a light flour dredge, pan-sear them in butter and oil, and finish with a savory pan sauce made with deglazed bits and broth.
You don’t use stringy chicken. Has to be chicken breasts
Allegedly
So use savory breasts.
Moist breasts really
I’ll keep that in mind when looking for breasts.
He is quite intriguing but who knows what to expect from Rockies pitchers. Throws hard as hell but control is bad and is hittable. Doesn’t get as many K’s as you’d like.
Im surprised COL is giving up are their season so early
This is what we said about Michael Kopech and he was great for the dodgers until the injuries
Halvorsen is their next Kopech project
That seems likely AND more immediately,…Halvorsen will provide LAD as optionable, intriguing RHP depth option for BP games every 6th day until Snell gets back.
Knack and Klein should still have options (w/o checking) in case a BP game gets out of control and 25th
I say there’s several factors to consider:
The Dodgers gain years of team control, he throws very hard, and they are an organization known for development. There’s upside that the front office sees and it doesn’t hurt to see how it pans out.
Also, I can imagine there’s excitement and optimism from guys that are traded from one of the worst organizations in baseball to one of the best. There’s incentive to win and be good.
There have been players that didn’t work out but if you look at recent years, you can see that the Dodgers are not afraid to give a player the chance to prove his worth. Vesia wasnt good right off the bat, Will Klein was a nobody, Evan Phillips showed out before surgery, etc
I say give it a few seasons to see how development goes. If it doesn’t work out, then it’s a low risk trade anyways.
wild he went from the Rockies to recording the final out in the 2026 World Series!
Than he played timpani at halftime of the Super Bowl
Dammit, I was promised that job. Crap, now I have to play the bells. Again.
Shut your trap or you’ll end up on the glockenspiel.
Halvorson is worth the lottery ticket, could be a high leverage arm if he can figure it out.
Stove is LIT!
He’s been released from MLB’s Witness Protection program.
Not on the 40-man, presumably.
He is on the 40-man, but I believe Frasso is as well so that evens out.
Thanks. The article says a lot about the players involved, but not whether the trade requires any roster moves.
He is and will be in the majors after a rehab stint. This guy has pitched against LA several times
5 games/times he’s faced the dodgers to be exact
He’d have to be outrighted and I doubt he clears waivers
Are you saying he’s not on the 40 man, or not on the 40, man
Maaan
Duuude.
Rockies prob win that trade. Prospects going to CO look strong.
frasso is always hurt and is closer to 30 than 20. The outfielder could be decent, but then again the Rox have more outfielders and OF prospects than they know what to do with.
And the reds
In what way? Frasso is an arrow-down arm who’s walking 15% of AAA hitters and Vidourek is striking out almost at 40% as an over-ager in A ball. I don’t know why the Rockies do this.
Those prospects look bad. One is only a prospect because he gets hurt all the time and is old.
Good return for Depodesta. Frasso is similar to Halvorsen and the OF lottery ticket was only drafted last year.
Maybe not the news Nick Frasso hoped to hear this morning.
If he’s got any amount of perspective he’ll be happy to have an opportunity to prove himself in an offensive environment. Not saying this is only great for him, but there’s some green grass for sure
Better to pitch at Coors Field than to have no path to the majors IMHO.
Major league salary?
Back to tigers as filler in the skubel trade.
At least know how to spell Skubal if you’re gonna parrot
Fun factoid: Parrits have zero written language skills.
Sometimes when you are visioned impaired like i am the software doesnt reflect proper spelling to what i say and here. Tough to have limited eye sight. But you sound like a decent sympathetic sort so i hope one day you will know the challenges some of us deal with just to enjoy baseball and participate in converstion. I encourage you to volunteer with beep ball in your community. If you dont know what it is you can look it up. Or ask alexa
I do know about beepball! And thanks for the gut check, my apologies for being an ***.
Edwin Encarnación: Best known for his “Walking the Parrot” (or “Edwing”) home run celebration. After hitting a home run, Encarnación would round the bases with his right arm extended, mimicking a bird resting on his arm. He even famously carried a stuffed parrot in the dugout.
cc: Jake Bird, Greg Bird, Marlon Byrd, Mark Fidrych
The parrot was expired.
Dodgers are going to be making a lot of trades for dudes with team control.
So much for the Rockies Closer of the Future.
Maybe they think Frasso has the potential to close? Or Vodnik if he finds some command.
Hard to hold a lead when there isn’t one!
Welcome to The Show!
Unfortunately if any team can turn this guy into an ace (or perhaps a closer–sounds like he has that kind of stuff), it’s LA.
They normally deal with better talent than this. Halverson’s got one skill: He throws very hard. He doesn’t K nearly as many as you’d think.
Graterol Part Deux.
He does induce a lot of getting balls. If they can refine him a little it could be good.
You mean like the way they were suppose to turn Alexis Diaz back into a top closer?
Twitter GMs think this is a game changer. Is this kid any good?
More to come checks out.
The Rockies are getting Frasso & Vidourek FOR Halvorson.
NOT THE DODGERS AS YOU REPORTED !!
Remember proofreading & Editing = it’s a lost art.
“Minor league righty Nick Frasso and minor league outfielder Landyn Vidourek are going to the Dodgers in the trade, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.”
Good God, the Dodgers will make him nasty
I can see they did a lot for your disposition!
Thirty-Two comments made and I’m the only one who saw this gaffe?
Thank You for your correction Mr. Addams.
Next time SLOW DOWN and get it right.
There is value in proofreading & editing BEFORE posting.
I’m just surprised the Rockies made a trade.
You ain’t seen nothing yet! Hold on tight for the new era of Dealin’ Dan-esque trades from the new Rockies front office. This isn’t 2021/2/3/4/5 Rockies, Toto!
WE NEED A SALARY CAPPPP /s
Great return for the Rockies. As much as I hate the dodgers they do make things competitive always.
Halvorsen’s got a live arm, very sneaky deal for the Dodgers.
Throws hard but his fastball is very straight and hittable.
Sure, guy who told us that Bryce Eldridge wasn’t going to be good. Or was that the other seamaholic?
Graterol 2.0?
I’d be happy if Graterol finally got healthy enough to become Graterol 1.0.
Henriquez is Graterol 2.0. So…
He needs to work on that 1.9 WHIP
Good trade for both teams. To be expected considering Byrnes knows the Dodgers players and the front office well.
Rockies have started backfilling their farm system talent. And they’ll likely make similar trades with that in mind. And if those players can help the big club sooner than later? Bonus.
Dodgers get an excellent but unrefined arm. That have the coaching to make it happen, and the patience to take their time with him. And if he can crack the dodgers bullpen this year? Bonus.
I doubt this will be the last Dodgers Rockies trade we see in the coming months. Byrnes knows what his system needs and what the Dodgers want. Hence the two for one.
Why would the Rockies do this? There is no rationale whatsoever so ever.
If teams want to keep trading with the Dodgers, they shouldn’t act surprised when the Dodgers do great.
Halvorsen is well below average in every pitching outcome category. Frasso has more potential, but the Dodgers have no place for him on the roster. The Rockies can probably use him right away. They also get another recent top draft pick. What the Dodgers get is a project they can keep stashed in the minors and who, if they can’t tame his wildness, will never see the bright lights. So there’s your rationale, for both teams.
He throws hard but his pitches don’t have life and he doesn’t know where the ball is going half the time. Reminds me of Ryne Stanek. Garbage in garbage out
Just wait until the Dodgers development team gets ahold of him.
Dodgers fan here. Other teams cannot do what the Dodgers do monetarily.
But, they Dodgers money (and spending that money) is a confluence of three pretty unique circumstances:
1. The owners don’t need the cash. They are building value in the franchise. The team markets their core businesses on top. And one of those core businesses is making money and deferring payments!
2. Their TV deal is ridiculous. But hey, they negotiated it. And their deal is with someone who is not going to go bankrupt over bad tv sports deals. It’s with Charter. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal for 25 years. In the future, the league will own rights or split revenue like the NFL but that cannot be done until all these one-off contracts end. But the main point is: this contract is gold and no one will ever get anything like it again (probably) because the whole business model of cable TV flipped.
3. They have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of one player: Ohtani, and the Japanese market he unlocks. They probably make 150-200 million on him alone. No other player can come within the ballpark of the ballpark of the ballpark of doing that.
So, admittedly a Dodger fan here, but do you really change the whole system because one team is in a one-time set of circumstances what is very very very unlikely to ever be duplicated?
Good grief there are a lot of whiny, life ain’t fair, grown ups commenting here.
The Dodgers aren’t ruining baseball. The rules are the rules. When the rules change, they’ll work within the new rules. And keep winning. Just like Milwaukee. And the Rays. And other well run teams.
I think he’ll be better now that hes not in Colorado. I hate it was the dodgers
Excellent, well-researched piece Steve. Thanks