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Jeff Passan has connected the Dodgers to a potential trade for Angels shortstop Zach Neto, per a report highlighted by Dodgers Way. The linkage raises some fascinating questions about what the front office might still be cooking up before the trade deadline — especially after already pulling off the blockbuster acquisition of Tarik Skubal from the Tigers.

Neto is one of the more intriguing young shortstops in baseball. The 23-year-old was the 13th overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Campbell University and made his big league debut in 2023, skipping Triple-A entirely. He’s shown a blend of defensive polish and offensive upside that makes him a coveted asset. In 2025, Neto took a significant step forward at the plate, flashing more power and improving his approach against breaking balls — long considered the main hole in his game. He’s under team control for several more years, which means any deal to pry him from Anaheim would require a substantial return. The Angels, mired in another disappointing season, could be open to moving pieces if the price is right, but Neto is exactly the kind of young, cost-controlled talent rebuilding teams prefer to keep.

For the Dodgers, the interest in Neto creates some interesting roster questions. We have Miguel Rojas holding down shortstop, and Tommy Edman has shown he can play all over the infield. Adding a player of Neto’s caliber would signal that the front office views shortstop as an area where they can upgrade meaningfully — not just for this October run but potentially for years to come. That kind of forward-looking move in the middle of a deadline push is very much the Friedman playbook: acquire talent when it’s available, worry about the roster puzzle later.

I think this one bears watching closely. Passan doesn’t throw names around carelessly, and the fact that the Dodgers are being connected to a player of Neto’s age and talent level suggests the front office isn’t done dealing. The Skubal trade already made us the clear favorites in October (Passan’s word, not mine — though I agree). Adding a long-term shortstop solution on top of that rotation upgrade would be an extraordinary deadline haul.

The flip side: the cost would be steep. Neto isn’t a rental. He’s a young, controllable player on a team that has no particular urgency to move him. The Dodgers’ farm system has already taken a hit from the Skubal deal, and going back to the well for another major acquisition would thin things out further. Whether Andrew Friedman is willing to pay that price — and whether the Angels would even engage seriously with a division-adjacent rival — remains to be seen. But the connection is out there now, and at this stage of the deadline, that alone tells us something about the Dodgers’ ambitions.

Source(s): Jeff Passan (Dodgers Way) | First reported: August 3, 2026 1:18 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers