After a slow start to the 2018 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have turned things around in the last two months, which put themselves in a position to once again be buyers at the trade deadline.
They have already made the biggest splash before the deadline by acquiring Baltimore Orioles All-Star shortstop Manny Machado, but that likely isn’t the only move they will make.
Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi has made it clear that they are looking to upgrade their bullpen, and they have been linked to some of the big-name relievers currently on the market like Orioles closer Zach Britton.
Britton has been drawing interest from a lot of teams though, and according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, the Dodgers are not going to get into a bidding war:
The #Dodgers would love to add a shutdown arm in front of Kenley Jansen. But with Tony Cingrani, Pedro Baez and Josh Fields on the way back from the DL, they think their bullpen should be better even without a major addition. "They're not going to overpay,'' said a source.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) July 24, 2018
As Crasnick mentioned, Tony Cingrani, Pedro Baez and Josh Fields have all been essential parts of the Dodgers bullpen this season and are making their way back from injuries.
The emergence of smaller acquisitions like Scott Alexander, Daniel Hudson and Dylan Floro, plus the potential of moving someone like Kenta Maeda or Ross Stripling back to the bullpen in the postseason could certainly lead the Dodgers front office to believe that they don’t need to overpay for a shutdown late-inning reliever.
But with Jansen struggling a bit this season, and no one taking over as a consistent setup man like Brandon Morrow did in 2017 and Joe Blanton in 2016, it definitely wouldn’t be surprising if they do complete a trade before the deadline.
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