While most of the National League is still on the border of the playoff picture, the Dodgers have no such ambiguity. They’re in their typical position of preparing to buy.
On paper, the team’s biggest question appears to be the roster depth. The Dodgers haven’t gotten much production out of the bottom third of the lineup. They have seven starting pitchers on the injured list at the moment, leading them to go into the All-Star Break with a four-man rotation that includes three rookies. They felt the effects in the weeks leading up to the Break. They’ve taken just four of 12 games this month and have a 20-18 record since the beginning of June.
Despite their recent slump, the Dodgers have one of the more comfortable divisional cushions in the majors. They’re seven games clear of the Diamondbacks and Padres in the NL West. They remain very likely to win the division. Whether they’ll finish in the National League’s top two and secure a first-round bye is more of a question. L.A. is well back of the Phillies for the #1 seed and only holds a one-game edge on the Central-leading Brewers.
The division lead allows the front office to be flexible in which players they target before July 30. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman indicated this week that the Dodgers will focus most of their attention at the top of the trade market. “For us, I don’t think our mentality is different than it’s been in previous years in that we feel we have a really good team and to the extent that we can add really good players we’re going to be aggressive to do so,” Friedman said (link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). “What appears to be a marginal upgrade is not something we’re going to spend a lot of time on. That doesn’t mean something is not going to happen along those lines but that’s not where our energy and focus will be.”
With very little danger of missing the playoffs, the Dodgers can primarily concern themselves with how the roster will look in October. They anticipate having a lot of impact players back by then. Los Angeles isn’t expecting a long-term absence for Tyler Glasnow. Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be back in August. Clayton Kershaw is building up in the minors as he completes his rehab from last year’s shoulder surgery.
