With the MLB non-waiver trade deadline rapidly approaching, Dodger (and baseball) fans are glued to their smartphones checking Twitter by the hour – if not by the minute – for the latest trade reports and rumors. And unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month or so, you are well aware that in addition to a top-tier left-handed reliever, the Dodgers are also looking for a top-of-the-rotation-ish right-handed starter to squeeze in between their left-handed ace Clayton Kershaw and left-handed co-ace Alex Wood. But while names like Yu Darvish, Sonny Gray and even Justin Verlander are among those rumored to be on the radar of Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, the cost to acquire these guys would be enormous and a huge hit to the Dodgers top-ranked farm system.

But perhaps the solution to the team’s right-handed starter issues may be closer – and a ton cheaper – than they realize.

Tucked away in nearby Oklahoma City is 27-year-old right-hander Wilmer Font, who already has two seasons of MLB experience under his belt, albeit brief and as a reliever. However, since being signed as a free agent to a minor league contract by the Dodgers on December 21, 2016, the 6′ 4″/265-pound  La Guaira, Venezuela native has been a strikeout machine … as a starter.

Wilmer Font set a new OKC Dodgers record when he struck out 15 batters on May 15, 2017.
(Photo credit – Nate Billings)

Although Font currently owns a sub-ace 7-5 record and 3.82 ERA in his 19 starts with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, he leads the Pacific Coast League (by a significant margin) with his 138 strikeouts while issuing only 27 walks in his 101.1 innings pitched.

Granted, one can argue that a 7-5 record and 3.82 ERA at the Triple-A level in no way equates to what might happen at baseball’s highest level, but with right-hander Brandon McCarthy currently sitting at 6-4 with a 3.84 ERA, and right-hander Kenta Maeda currently at 8-4 and 4.23, there is a very good chance that Font would do at least as good and perhaps even better than both.

Taking this one step further, McCarthy has made it past the fifth inning in only eight of his 16 starts thus far this season and past the sixth inning only twice, and Maeda past the fifth inning only three times in his 15 starts. Additionally, McCarthy has thrown a total of 86.2 innings in 2017 and Maeda 83.0 innings.

In contrast, Font has made it into the sixth inning seven times this season and into the seventh inning twice in his 101.1 innings pitched.

And then there’s the health concerns. In McCarthy’s last start on Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves, he came out of the game after going only four inning (and allowing six runs) for a blister issue that he later said he has been dealing with since spring training … SPRING TRAINING. And while he insists that it had no factor in him getting absolutely torched on Thursday night, how could it not? He also had a return of the yips earlier this season that still has every Dodger fan on edge whenever he is scheduled to start a game. As for Maeda, he spent nearly four weeks on the disabled list earlier this season for hamstring tightness and also gives Dodger fans a less-than-comfortable feeling every time he takes the mound.

McCarthy allowed six runs on nine hits (including a two-run home run) in his 4.0 innings of work in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Braves at Dodger Stadium. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

There most certainly are no guarantees that Wilmer Font would do a better job than Brandon McCarthy or Kenta Maeda should the Dodgers elect to call him up (as opposed to giving up the farm for a current MLB pitcher), but to be brutally honest, he probably wouldn’t do any worse.