With the 1 p.m. PT MLB trade deadline rapidly approaching Monday afternoon, there’s some uncertainty of what to make with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They historically have been active but arguably have their most talented roster to date.
They seem to be focused on pitching having already been linked to Lance Lynn of the Texas Rangers, Mike Clevinger before he was traded to the San Diego Padres, and Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader, among others.
One other area of need that they could look to address is on the position-player side as they have struggled against left-handed pitching this season. There’s no doubt the Dodgers’ lineup is filled with talent, but their on-base plus slugging percentage against southpaws ranks near the bottom of baseball. That’s compared to a .850 OPS against righties, which is first.
Despite those struggles against lefties, Dodgers president of baseball operations doesn’t necessarily believe they need to add a bat at the deadline, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I think that improvement is just going to have to come from within,” he said. “Obviously we’re talking about a really small sample for these guys. If you were facing a left-handed starter, I would bet on their track record rather than these 30 at-bats. We have like five guys who are very far below their established watermarks and some of the underlying information – in terms of quality of contact for a number of them – support that it’s more bad luck on balls in play than them just struggling. But again, I will bet on the established track record and reverting back to that.”
Overall when looking at the Dodgers’ offense, there’s no doubt they have one of the best in baseball as they just broke the National League record with 57 home runs in a single month.
If they do want to make an acquisition, there may be some cheaper options available like Todd Frazier and Asdrubal Cabrera, although it comes as no surprise that Friedman is confident in the players they already have in the organization.
Friedman hoping to be opportunistic at deadline
Just because they may not need a bat though doesn’t mean the Dodgers won’t make a move. Friedman recently said he is hoping to be ‘opportunistic’ at the deadline to add an impact players.
Whether that is some like Lynn, Clevinger or Hader remains to be seen, but the Dodgers have the big league talent and prospect capital to complete any deal they want.
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