The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t make an impact move at the 2022 MLB trade deadline, but they were active with five total deals over the past few days.
The most notable being a trade to acquire Joey Gallo from the New York Yankees for pitching prospect Clayton Beeter. The two-time All-Star has struggled with the Yankees but been considered one of the game’s best sluggers the previous few seasons.
Additionally, L.A. sent utilityman Zach McKinstry to the Chicago Cubs for reliever Chris Martin, Garrett Cleavinger to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfield prospect German Tapia, Jake Lamb to the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations or a player to be named later, and Mitch White and Minor League infielder Alex De Jesus to the Toronto Blue Jays for Minor League pitchers Nick Frasso and Moises Brito.
Despite their lack of a big move, the Dodgers have reason to be confident. They are still expecting to get Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Blake Treinen, Tommy Kahnle, Brusdar Graterol, Danny Duffy and Victor González back, along with Chris Taylor and Edwin Ríos.
With those players set to return, along with a Major League-best 70 wins and .680 winning percentage, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman knew the bar for trade acquisitions was high and mentioned the clubhouse dynamics of every deal they make.
“We feel really good about the potential for what our pitching staff could look like in October,” Friedman said. “We’re not relying on all of them coming back and being great. Some combination of that, I think puts us in a really good position to have a really strong October pitching staff. So with the way our guys have performed, with the guys we have coming back, we felt really good about that group.
“And then on the position-player side, we felt like adding something to help lengthen that group what would be helpful. And obviously, we had a lot of conversations in the last few weeks and even more [Tuesday]. But we feel good with where things ended up in terms of the pricing on different things and how it fit in with our group.
“We have a really special dynamic in that room right now, and it’s something that we’re cognizant of and mindful of as we kind of navigated this deadline.”
While the Dodgers’ top target was considered to be Juan Soto, the Nationals ultimately dealt him to the San Diego Padres, along with Josh Bell, for a package of prospects and Major Leaguers. “I feel good about the team that we have in place and the way that they’ve performed,” Friedman said when asked if he was disappointed about missing out on Soto.
“For us, if we have an acute need, you’ll see us be more on tilt. And things where it’s less of an acute need and it’s more about talent and how it fits short-term or longterm, there’s just a different process that goes into that.
“But obviously that applies to different players and situations. Certain players, very comfortable doing things that are very short-sighted, and others less so. There’s obviously a lot of different factors that go into it. I feel good about how aggressive we were in trying to line up on different things and the things that we ultimately did.
“But again, a lot of that stems from the special dynamic that I feel like we have in place, as well as the talent that we have here and the talent returning in the next two to six weeks.”
Dodgers place Justin Turner on injured list
The Dodgers placed Justin Turner on the 10-day injured list prior to Tuesday’s game due to an abdominal strain. Turner’s IL stint was backdated to July 30, which makes him eligible to return for next week’s series against the Minnesota Twins.
Turner’s chest trouble arose in the Dodgers’ first game after the All-Star break when he was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers announced at the time Turner’s exit was due to abdominal tightness.
Throughout the span of Turner being limited by the injury, Roberts stated on multiple occasions that a stint on the IL was unlikely.
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