Dodgers' Yu Darvish Trade Hopes Hurt by Reluctance to Deal Top Prospects

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported Saturday that the Los Angeles Dodgers are unwilling to part with their top prospects, which figures to hurt their chances of landing Texas Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish prior to Monday's non-waiver trade deadline.

Feinsand noted the Dodgers are "bargain hunting" in their quest to improve for the stretch run.

Prior to the 2017 season, MLB.com ranked the Los Angeles farm system No. 6 overall.

Despite their depth in that department, the Dodgers will apparently hold steady, and it makes sense considering how big an impact National League Rookie of the Year front-runner Cody Bellinger made after getting called up this season.

L.A. would benefit greatly from adding another big arm to its rotation, however, especially with ace Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list with a back injury.

Though he was named to the All-Star team, Darvish is having an up and down year, with a 6-9 record, 4.01 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 148 strikeouts and 45 walks in 137 innings.

He has some of the best stuff in the big leagues and boasts a career ERA of 3.42 and a career strikeout rate of 11.0 per nine innings.

Per Feinsand, the Rangers have made it clear to teams around the league that they intend to trade Darvish, who is an impending free agent.

The Japanese right-hander would be a rental for the team that acquires him, which is why there promises to be plenty of reluctance from organizations with regard to surrendering their top prospects.

Darvish would add to a Dodgers rotation that already consists of Kershaw, Alex Wood and Rich Hill, but the team—which owns a 72-31 record, the best in baseball—may be able to reach its first World Series since 1988 without him.