LOS ANGELES — Yearly, the Dodgers do their greatest to keep away from shopping for in July. And nearly yearly, they find yourself having wants forward of the Commerce Deadline.
This 12 months is not any completely different.
“The costs are at all times loopy come the Deadline. That is why we did every little thing we may this offseason to not must be within the place to purchase,” common supervisor Brandon Gomes mentioned earlier than Tuesday’s 10-7 loss to the Twins. “We’ll see how these subsequent few days come out and what every little thing seems to be like, however as of now, our stance hasn’t modified on needing to exit and get extra items.”
With 9 days to go till the Commerce Deadline on July 31, the Dodgers’ biggest want got here into sharp aid when de facto nearer Tanner Scott went on the 15-day injured checklist with left elbow irritation. He turned the Dodgers’ fifth high-leverage reliever on the IL, becoming a member of Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips (Tommy John surgical procedure).
One other reliever went down within the sixth inning of Tuesday’s loss, when rookie right-hander Ben Casparius struggled to search out the zone, walked in a run and grabbed at his proper hamstring space after throwing his remaining pitch. He known as for the coach and exited the sport.
Casparius mentioned he is hopeful that it was solely “insufferable” cramping in his decrease leg and foot, however he is set for an MRI on Wednesday. Whereas he hasn’t been almost as dominant as he was by means of the primary two months of the season, one other pitching harm could be fairly the blow.
The Dodgers’ bullpen leads the Majors in innings however ranks twenty fourth with a 4.41 ERA. Upgrading the unit was already a practical want for the defending World Sequence champions, however the current accidents strengthened that it ought to be a precedence.
“I believe ‘intensifying’ it’s in all probability a good phrase,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned, “given the uncertainty of the leverage guys that we have now and don’t have proper now. However I do suppose that we’ve proven previously, if there’s a commerce that must be made for a high-leverage man, we’ll try this.”
Treinen ought to be activated from the 60-day IL earlier than the Deadline, however the Dodgers may actually stand so as to add one other dependable right-hander whom they’ll deploy within the late innings.
“Getting any person that may actually take down right-hand hitters, I believe, is one thing that everybody is aware of that we’re ,” Roberts mentioned.
One other potential want is a bat. Whereas the Dodgers have been extra productive on the plate the previous few video games, they’ve mixed for a .639 staff OPS since Max Muncy went on the 10-day IL with a left knee bone bruise virtually three weeks in the past.
“I believe the expertise stage is basically excessive. It simply so occurred a bunch of men went right into a funk on the similar time,” Gomes mentioned. “We haven’t been enjoying excellent baseball. We’re discovering methods to lose and never executing in numerous sides of the sport. Our guys are on the market grinding. Generally that occurs in a season. It occurred final 12 months as nicely.”
Mentioned Roberts: “With the blokes that we have now struggling with the bat, these are primarily 4 or 5 commerce pickups in itself. We’ll guess on the comeback, the efficiency of these guys.”
Most of the bullpen arms the Dodgers have been counting on haven’t got the identical observe file of the staff’s place gamers, which is why they might profit from stabilizing the group with confirmed huge league expertise. As a result of Scott is anticipated again this season, the staff ought to be extra more likely to pursue leases reasonably than controllable arms that come at the next value.
All the identical, the Dodgers trust within the roster they’ve assembled.
“I might argue that if we keep considerably wholesome, that this group is best than it was final 12 months,” Gomes mentioned. “Clearly, there’s a very long time between now and the stretch run, however proper now I really feel excellent concerning the expertise stage of this pitching employees.”
