The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a pretty comfortable spot past the halfway point of the season with a sizable lead over the San Diego Padres in the National League West and owning one of the top records in all of baseball.
The team is 62-43, on pace to win 96 games, and has a six-game lead in the division, and this all comes with an injured list that is both filled with quantity and quality of players.
The Dodgers are obviously a worse team without Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Max Muncy, and others recovering from injury.
However, the advantageous position the Dodgers find themselves in allowed them be patient on the trade market and only target bigger-picture moves, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I think right now it’s kind of evaluating how this group is playing. It’s still quite a talented group,” General Manager Brandon Gomes said. “Make sure we’re playing well and not having to step on anybody too much. But a lot of it will be wait-and-see on that front.
“We’re fortunate enough to be in a good spot in the division right now. So that will dictate a lot of it. So depending on how things progress – do we have to make moves that are more focused on the now or can we continue to evaluate and focus on bigger-picture moves?”
The Dodgers’ rotation currently has some question marks because of the struggles of Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler and the uncertain future of Yamamoto. They also just got Clayton Kershaw back from the IL, but it remains to be seen how effective he will be down the stretch.
The team’s lead in the NL West afforded them more time to be patient, but now is almost the time to strike with the trade deadline just a few days away.
Dodgers history with splashy trade deadline
The Dodgers have been one of the more active teams in MLB when it comes to making high-profiles trades at the trade deadline and they have had a very successful approach when it comes to these deals.
The front office has a knack for acquiring elite talent at a price tag that makes sense in the present, while also keeping an eye on the future.
In 2017, the Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish for a package that was headlined by Willie Calhoun, MLB’s No. 69 ranked prospect at the time. In 2018, it was a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for Manny Machado and of course in 2021 it was Trea Turner and Max Scherzer.
In all three cases, the Dodgers pulled the trigger on trades that made sense, never overpaid, and none of the prospects traded away have come back to haunt them.
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