Dodgers complete trade, contract extension for Tyler Glasnow

Shortly after the Dodgers introduced Shohei Ohtani this week, the club completed another major acquisition.

The Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays have finalized a trade to send coveted starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow to Los Angeles — where the right-hander has signed a five-year, $136.5-million contract extension with the Dodgers that includes both a club and player option for the 2028 season.

Getting the Glasnow extension hammered out allowed the rest of the trade to be completed, with the Rays also sending outfielder Manuel Margot and roughly $4 million in cash considerations to L.A. in exchange for pitcher Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca.

The terms of both the trade and extension were agreed to on Friday, before being officially announced by the clubs Saturday morning.

ESPN first reported the news.

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The move comes at the end of almost two weeks of negotiations between the Dodgers and Rays — like-minded front offices that were seen around the industry as likely trade partners for any deal involving Glasnow.

A 30-year-old right-hander who made a strong return from Tommy John surgery last year, Glasnow is a Southland native and former Hart High standout who, at times in his eight-year career, has been seen as one of the most talented pitchers in the game.

He has a naturally cutting four-seam fastball that sits in the mid-to-upper-90-mph range. His put-away pitch is an overhand curveball that held opponents to an .095 average (10 for 105) last season. And when combined with a 90-mph slider, his dominant arsenal helped him rank in the 97th percentile of all pitchers last year with a 33.4% strikeout rate and the 95th percentile with a 35.2% whiff rate.

Glasnow does have an extensive injury history, including forearm troubles in 2019 (limiting him to 12 starts that season) that were a precursor to his Tommy John surgery in 2021 (which limited him to just 16 starts between that season and 2022).

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When healthy, however, the lanky 6-foot-8 hurler is the kind of frontline starter that the Dodgers' rotation has been too often lacking the last couple of years. Last season was also Glasnow's most durable, as he set career highs for starts (21) and innings (120) — despite missing the first couple of months with an oblique injury — while going 10-7 with a 3.53 earned-run average.

While losing Pepiot, a former top pitching prospect who still had five years of club control left, will be seen as a steep price by some evaluators, locking up Glasnow will give the Dodgers the kind of impact pitching acquisition they were seeking to pair with their record-breaking signing of Ohtani.

In one week, the Dodgers have suddenly transformed their roster with two major splashes.

And with star Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto headlining a list of other targets for the club, the team might not yet be done shopping this winter.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.