With one week until the MLB trade deadline on August 1, the Los Angeles Dodgers figure to be among the most aggressive teams searching for roster upgrades.
To this point, the Dodgers have been publicly linked to Shohei Ohtani and Lucas Giolito as they look to bolster an injury-depleted starting rotation. However, the club could also add a right-handed bat and bullpen help.
“Very mindful of it. I definitely don’t think it’s an overhaul. I think it’s more of trying to look at different parts of our club and thinking about raising the floor,” manager Dave Roberts said of the Dodgers’ plans at the trade deadline.
“I’ve mentioned before, a right-handed bat. I think certainly you can talk about pitching, from starting to ‘pen guys. I think that’s something that’s more front of mind for us.”
The Dodgers having obvious needs at this year’s trade deadline is in contrast to past seasons, when the team took a more opportunistic approach. “It’s hard for me to look at every year,” Roberts began.
“I almost feel that each year we’ve for sure acquired a pitcher and a leverage guy; whether it’s a ‘pen guy or a starter. But given the experience, the health of the starters, this is probably as forefront of mind — just kind of the pitching bucket in general — as we’ve been in my tenure here.”
With starting pitching arguably the biggest need for the Dodgers, Roberts is confident the front office will add some reinforcements in the coming days. “I do,” he answered when asked if he is confident the team will bring in help for the rotation.
“I think if you look at the track record of our guys, whenever there’s been a need to fill a void, a hole, a weakness, whatever it might be, we’ve done a good job of filling those.”
In the time since Roberts’ comments, the Dodgers reached an agreement with the Boston Red Sox on a Kiké Hernández trade. He’s struggled at the plate this season but has a career profile of being able to hit left-handed pitching.
Will Dodgers be aggressive at 2023 MLB trade deadline?/h2>
The Dodgers have never shied away from making a splash at the trade deadline, acquiring the likes of Yu Darvish (2017), Manny Machado (2018), Max Scherzer (2021) and Trea Turner (2021) over the years.
While the possibility of another blockbuster exists, Roberts is not necessarily expecting one. “I don’t know. I think you could argue parts of our club could probably be improved, but if you look back at my time here, there’s been some pretty aggressive trade-deadline moves,” Roberts said.
“Looking back, it’s hard to imagine much more aggressive than getting a Max Scherzer, Yu Darvish, Trea Turner. We’ve been pretty aggressive, so I don’t know. But my trust is in these guys to understand what we need but also be smart about it.”
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