BOSTON — With Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow coming off the injured list to re-join a stacked Dodgers rotation, Los Angeles planned to push Dustin May to the bullpen in the coming days. Instead, the Red Sox offered an enticing enough prospect package for the Dodgers to trade him away.
May will start in Boston, assuming the No. 5 spot in the rotation behind Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and ex-Dodgers teammate Walker Buehler. That means a lot to a player who, since 2020, has started 48 of the 51 big league games he has pitched in.
“I was kind of pushed out,” said May, who arrived in Boston on Saturday. “We had quite a few guys there in that organization. I couldn’t be more excited. It’s thrill to be here and be a part of it.
“It was definitely a ride of emotions, up and down. Definitely sad leaving because I’ve been there for my whole career, but definitely very, very excited to be joining this organization and hope for a playoff push.”
With Tanner Houck, Hunter Dobbins and Kutter Crawford all out for the season and rehabbing lefty Patrick Sandoval doubtful to pitch at all in 2025, the Red Sox wanted a veteran upgrade over rookie Richard Fitts, who had been manning the No. 5 spot in recent weeks. They feel like they got one in May, an oft-injured rental who will make his debut Wednesday against Kansas City.
“He’s ready to go. Excited,” said manager Alex Cora. “I texted with Dave (Roberts) this morning about him. Everybody says he loves to compete so he’s ready.
“He’s excited he’s gonna start. He told Bails (Andrew Bailey) and he told me, he’ll do whatever we need him to do. That’s awesome, but we believe he can do the job as a starter. He can help us. His stuff is really good. Just a few adjustments. Organizations have different ideas for players and hopefully, our ideas can help him.”
May, who finished fifth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting while helping the Dodgers win a World Series title in 2020, was limited to just 101 total innings from 2021 to 2023, then missed all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery midway through the previous year. This year has brought health and a career-high in innings. In 104 innings, May has posted a 4.85 ERA while striking out 97 batters.
His last outing with the Dodgers came Sunday at Fenway Park when Alex Bregman tagged him for a two-run homer and he departed having allowed four runs on five hits in five innings.
“For myself, it’s definitely been a roller-coaster,” May said of his 2025. “I’ve had a couple good ones, a couple really bad ones, and the rest have just been kind of in that mid-line. I definitely feel like there’s an uptick in stuff in the last month or so, and I feel like I’m kind of kind of stepping into my groove. Hopefully, that translates.
“In most of my outings I’m really good and then I have a blow-up inning. So just trying to limit that blow-up inning and like keep it on like a lower level.”
May hopes he can take some pointers from a Red Sox lineup that recently scouted him — and beat him. He has familiarity with Buehler from their time together in Los Angeles as well as catcher Connor Wong, a former Dodgers minor leaguer, and reliever Justin Slaten, with whom May played summer ball as high schoolers in Texas.
“Walker had nothing but high praise for these guys, and then my pitching coaches over at the Dodgers had a lot of high praise for these guys as well,” May said. “So definitely excited to get to work with them and hopefully nail some things out and get some better results.”
After May’s start last weekend at Fenway, he kept in contact with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. While he didn’t request a trade, May — on the eve of free agency for the first time — expressed that he wanted to keep starting. The deal, which sent James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard west, worked out for all sides.
“Communication was great,” said May. “It was kind of just like, if things kind of fit perfect on both ends, then we can make it work. I don’t think they were trying to push anything, but it worked on both sides. So I’m excited to be here.”
May didn’t know Boston was a possibility until a few minutes before the trade deadline when the sides reached a deal. Two days later, he threw his first bullpen as a member of his new organization with four days to go before his debut Wednesday.
“I’m sure I’ll go into this first one, kind of get my feet wet with the guys, and then after that, we’ll probably dig in and kind of go to work,” May said. “Just getting to kind of know everybody and feel their ways to go about things and my ways to go about things and just trying to mesh and put the best foot forward. ”
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