This story was excerpted from Sonja Chen’s Dodgers Beat e-newsletter. To learn the complete e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it repeatedly in your inbox.
With lower than per week to go till Thursday’s Commerce Deadline, the market has been transferring slowly. However all it takes is one domino to fall for issues to actually warmth up.
The Dodgers have performed it near the vest relating to their wants, as many groups are likely to do round this time of yr. However they’re struggling with the Deadline quick approaching, having misplaced 11 of their previous 15 video games — a tough patch that has uncovered some areas of enchancment that they need to tackle.
“We’ll see how these subsequent few days come out and what all the things seems to be like,” basic supervisor Brandon Gomes mentioned not too long ago. “However, as of now, our stance hasn’t modified on needing to exit and get extra items.”
Listed here are some key questions forward of the Commerce Deadline:
What do the Dodgers want?
I coated this in some element just a few days in the past. The quick model: Upgrading the bullpen needs to be the precedence, and it would not damage so as to add a bat to assist lengthen the lineup.
In each of those areas, the Dodgers ought to have some in-season reinforcements coming. Blake Treinen needs to be again quickly, with Michael Kopech to observe on the finish of August — and maybe Brusdar Graterol sooner or later in September. Los Angeles averted the worst with Tanner Scott, however his timeline to return shouldn’t be but clear.
On the position-player aspect, getting Max Muncy again within the subsequent couple of weeks might present a giant enhance. However the staff can also be banking on a few of its slumping regulars to return to kind.
Whereas it appears a good wager that Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts might have extra within the tank than what they’ve proven recently, it is much less clear that Michael Conforto will warmth up after a number of down seasons on the plate. (Though it needs to be mentioned that Conforto has had some dangerous batted-ball luck this yr, getting into Friday with a .222 BABIP, nicely beneath the league common of .296.)
Which gamers might they aim?
Let’s give attention to the most important space of want right here. The Dodgers have been lacking a reliable high-leverage right-handed reliever.
With a number of groups nonetheless on the purchase/promote bubble, it is not instantly clear who the very best obtainable arms is likely to be. Some impending free brokers who might be a very good match embody the Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley and the Nationals’ Kyle Finnegan. The Rays’ Pete Fairbanks is one other intriguing possibility, though he has a membership possibility for 2026, so he is not essentially a rental.
There has additionally been some speak of controllable arms being obtainable forward of the Deadline, such because the Twins’ Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, as nicely the Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase. I might be considerably shocked if the Dodgers went this route, given their desire to not purchase when costs are highest in July.
That mentioned, if the correct alternative comes alongside, the membership isn’t afraid to be aggressive.
Who’re some potential commerce chips?
To go along with the Dodgers’ success on the huge league stage, their farm system is without doubt one of the strongest within the Majors. They’ve six prospects ranked on MLB Pipeline’s Prime 100 listing, however a lot of the highest expertise within the group is no less than a pair years away from the Main Leagues.
If groups are in search of huge league-ready gamers, then the Dodgers’ most respected asset proper now might be their higher Minors pitching depth, together with arms with Main League expertise equivalent to Bobby Miller, Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski.
However that begs the query …
Might the Dodgers purchase and promote?
There was some hypothesis that Dustin Could might be used as a commerce chip, as he’s an impending free agent and might be of curiosity to groups as a bullpen piece. The issue with buying and selling away Could — or any of the aforementioned arms — is, nicely, the Dodgers would possibly want them.
L.A.’s rotation is getting more healthy, and the bullpen is coming alongside slowly. However given how latest historical past has unfolded, this staff ought to most likely not depend on its pitching workers staying wholesome to shut out the season.
The Dodgers may need a 40-man roster crunch coming this offseason, once they’ll want to seek out spots for any gamers who finish the season on the 60-day IL. However final yr, they ended up having precisely sufficient pitching to win the World Collection with a beleaguered workers. They will not need to come up quick this yr.
