Like The Dodgers Needed Another Advantage At The Trade Deadline

Apr 25, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; A detailed view of practice baseballs before the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Clayton Kershaw‘s underperformance, Zack Greinke‘s velocity loss, Brett Anderson pitching more innings than he’s done in a decade, Mike Bolsinger‘s 88 MPH heater, Carlos Frias‘ total unprovenness.

That’s all that really needs to be said at this point to understand the team’s intentions on July 30th, the Dodgers are going to trade for a starting pitcher between now, and August 30th (you don’t think they’re standing pat at the waiver deadline, do you?), the only question is which one. Johnny Cueto was just sidelined with elbow stiffness (yikes), so the fit there might not be as obvious as it was a few days ago. There’s always Cole Hamels and Scott Kazmir and Mike Leake. For the ambitious minded folks, there’s Sonny Gray, Julio Teheran, Carlos Carrasco, or hell, mayyybe Corey Kluber if the Dodgers want to give up the farm system.

But the problem in getting anybody worth getting is the price of getting that player. It’s been made clear that Julio Urias and Corey Seager are staying, Joc Pederson is already been worth 2.2 fWAR in a month and a half of play, those guys are staying. Jose De Leon‘s value is on a rapid ascent, Grant Holmes is currently striking out 11.41 batters per 9 innings in Low-A then there’s Alex Verdugo, Chris Anderson, Zach Lee and Scott Schebler who have some very interesting potential outcomes at their disposal.

The minor league system is stacked with talent so a trade at this juncture wouldn’t kill the depth that management has accrued, but this isn’t taking into account the report that the Dodgers are going to make every other team feel bad about themselves on July 2nd.

"So I thought the Dodgers would try to get lots of talent on July 2nd, and I figured the Dodgers knew that if they were going to go over their bonus pool, they might as well sign everybody, but to hear it from a reliable source is fun. The Dodgers basically bought a draft pick in trading with the Orioles, which just means the Dodgers bought young talent using their “financial might” in ways that other teams can’t/won’t."

Let me know if there are any other teams that can replace a Jose De Leon with a Yadier Alvarez. Or a Grant Holmes with a Vladimir Gutierrez. Or a Alex Verdugo with a Starling Heredia.

And heck those are just the deals we already know about, the point is, how many teams do you know can trade top end minor league talent for top end major league talent and get away with it?

Who knows, maybe the Dodgers will find a way to squeeze Corey Seager, Julio Urias, Yadier Alvarez, Jose De Leon and Grant Holmes on a Dodgers top prospect list, but really, the upcoming talent to be added on July 2nd gives the Dodgers significant depth in the farm system that makes trading for the Johnny Cueto’s of the world that much easier.