The Los Angeles Dodgers have been here before. After a flurry of activity by a National League West rival, the Dodgers are no longer the perceived favorite to win the division. Last offseason it was the San Diego Padres.
A combination of signings and trades by first-year general manager A.J. Preller added Matt Kemp, Will Middlebrooks, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, James Shields and Justin Upton to the Padres roster.
Then on the eve of the 2015 season beginning, Preller traded for Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr.
San Diego fired manager Bud Black 55 games into the season, with the Padres at the time 32-33 and sitting in third place in the division.
The media darling this time around is the Arizona Diamondbacks. They thrusted themselves into a bidding war between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants to sign (read: steal) Zack Greinke.
Arizona followed that up by pulling off a trade with the Atlanta Braves for righty Shelby Miller. Whereas the Diamondbacks lured Greinke away with a six-year, $206.5 million contract, they paid a substantial price in terms of prospects to acquire Miller.
Included in it was Dansby Swanson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft. Not stopping at Greinke and Miller, the Diamondbacks are believed to still be in the running to sign free agent Mike Leake.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman praised the Diamondbacks for their marquee moves, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“They’ve been aggressive, doing everything they can to try to knock us off from the three straight division titles and they’ve made a lot of good, aggressive moves, and we’re going to do everything we can to finish the regular season where we did the last three seasons,” he said.
As the Diamondbacks have garnered plenty of attention over new additions, the Dodgers to this point have made national headlines for failed trades as opposed to re-signing Chase Utley.
Days after losing Greinke via free agency, Los Angeles had a trade in place with the Cincinnati Reds for closer Aroldis Chapman. However, an alleged domestic violence incident from October put the deal on pause.
The Dodgers reportedly have since moved on from trade talks for Chapman. Friedman has also been unsuccessful in getting the Miami Marlins to part with Jose Fernandez.
Though, that can certainly be tied to Miami’s insistence on a large, if not unrealistic, haul for their young ace. Still looking to add a starting pitcher, the Dodgers are said to have now their sights on Johnny Cueto.
Although there’s work to be done for the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks, for all of their impressive accomplishments this month, are coming off a season in which they finished four games under .500 and 13 games back of first place in the NL West.
