You can buy a lot in this world for $1.4 billion. But as the Dodgers are discovering, you cannot buy a complete 26-man roster.
Yep, the Dodgers likely will need at least one hitter and one reliever at the trade deadline, and that’s assuming no further injuries. Their lead in the NL West is five games. Their 12th straight postseason appearance is practically a given. But even after their $1.4 billion offseason, adjustments still will be necessary in their quest for a World Series title.
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As owner Mark Walter recruited Shohei Ohtani, he mentioned that he views his 12-year tenure running the club as an on-field failure, despite the team’s championship in the shortened 2020 season. Everything with the Dodgers this season — every pitch, in-game decision and roster move — is intended to maximize their chances in October. So although the team’s current five-game losing streak and 7-9 slump hardly are cause for concern, they’re nonetheless a meaningful snapshot, one president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman almost certainly will not ignore.
The Dodgers’ bullpen issues should ease as their four injured right-handers — Evan Phillips, Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol and Joe Kelly — return to health. Even then, they probably could use one more shutdown type to pair with Phillips in the late innings, someone perhaps, like their old friend, Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen.
The offensive addition, or additions, will be more complex — and perhaps determine whether the Dodgers keep Mookie Betts at shortstop for the rest of the season. The best guess at the moment is yes, in large part because a top-caliber shortstop might not be available. But the continued offensive struggles of Gavin Lux at second base might force the issue.
Betts had a memorable line in spring training, saying he didn’t even bring an outfield glove or cleats to Arizona.
If the Dodgers make a move, he would appear far more likely to slide over to second than return to the outfield, even though the team’s outfield production without him is sorely lacking.
The outfield is part of the Dodgers’ larger problem — their offensive futility in the sixth through ninth spots (or seventh through ninth when third baseman Max Muncy, one of 12 Dodgers players on the injured list, returns from his strained right oblique).
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The black hole at the bottom of the lineup does not erase the impact of the three future Hall of Famers at the top (Betts, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman), the underrated star in the cleanup spot (Will Smith) or the team RBI leader batting fifth (Teoscar Hernández). But after ranking third in the majors in runs per game in March/April, the Dodgers began the week only 11th in May. And not because of their top hitters.
Some of this will correct itself. The Dodgers in the past 16 games are batting .187 and slugging .284 off four-seam fastballs, both 26th in the league. Their hitters are simply too good for that to continue, even if Hernández is only 5-for-29 (.172) off pitches 95 mph or above, well below the league mark of .229.
Freeman, in particular, has yet to get truly hot. As he approaches his 35th birthday, he is incorporating core and weighted ball work into his pregame exercises. At some point he might need to consider taking occasional days off; he has appeared in all 55 Dodgers games thus far, and missed only 11 games total the past seven seasons. But for heaven’s sake, Freeman is not the problem.
No, the problem is the supporting cast.
Chris Taylor, in the third year of a four-year, $60 million contract, is batting .101 with a .338 OPS and strikeout rate of nearly 40 percent. Jason Heyward and Kiké Hernández, less expensive veterans, also have been unproductive. And the younger position players are up and down, as young players often are. James Outman is back in the minors. Andy Pages cooled after a hot start. The outfield as a whole, even with Teoscar Hernández producing, began the week ranked 25th in the majors in OPS.
Then there is Lux, whose left-handed bat became even more important in the absence of Muncy. Knowing Lux missed all of last season after tearing the ACL in his right knee, manager Dave Roberts said in April it would not be fair to judge him until he had 150 at-bats. Lux currently is at 141, and he said over the past two weeks he has started to feel more normal. The results, though, still aren’t quite there. After a brief revival, Lux is 8-for-37 in his past 10 games, and batting .206 with a .542 OPS overall.
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So, what’s the solution?
Ideally, at least two of a group of four outfielders — Heyward, Pages, Outman and Miguel Vargas — will emerge as solid contributors. Even then, the Dodgers would be wise to explore the market for outfielders, who at the deadline generally are in ample supply. The White Sox’s Tommy Pham, a favorite of some in the organization, would be one possibility. The Dodgers cannot add a DH with Ohtani occupying that spot, and it would be short-sighted to ask Ohtani to play the outfield when he is rehabilitating from elbow surgery as a pitcher.
A shortstop will be more difficult to acquire, with the caveat that much can change in the two months leading to the deadline.
The Brewers, leading the NL Central by 4 1/2 games, value shortstop Willy Adames as an everyday player and clubhouse leader, and almost certainly will not trade him the way they did Josh Hader in 2022. The disappointing Blue Jays could move Bo Bichette, who unlike Adames, a potential free agent this winter, would come with an additional year of control. But it’s hardly certain the Dodgers would like the fit and/or price, particularly when they remain bullish on Betts at short.
Before last season, Betts had not played the position since 2013, when he was in A ball with the Red Sox. Last week, he described his transition as “really, really hard.” He sounded almost exhausted by the extra work, the nuances he needs to master. But in an interview I did with him Saturday for Fox Sports, he made it clear he is not overly frustrated.
“I’m in a good spot mentally,” Betts said. “Just because something is hard doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy doing it. But it’s hard, man. It’s hard. Challenges like this are reasons why I enjoy things, enjoy the game, enjoy coming to work each and every day. I’ve got to come here and be ready to work and to learn, because that’s a different animal, for sure.”
Is this who he is now, a shortstop for the present and the future?
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“Right now, it’s for the present,” Betts said. “If the opportunity comes where I can do it every day for the rest of my career, then absolutely, I’ll definitely take on that challenge. That’s not going to make it easy, right? It’s still going to be hard. I’ll still be working and taking care of my business. I’ll just do whatever it takes to win. If that’s me playing short, that’s me playing short.”
Betts’ first three steps to either side are excellent, Dodgers infield coach Dino Ebel said, and he gets to balls other shortstops cannot reach. Most of his miscues have come on throws, a result of learning the different arm angles necessary at the position. Ebel described him as “obsessed” with improvement. Others with the Dodgers never expected him to be this good, this soon.
That said, things in baseball often shift abruptly. Betts’ return to short, prompted by Lux’s throwing issues at the position in spring training, was precisely that type of spur-of-the-moment move. Thus, a midseason position change for Betts cannot be ruled out, particularly when he clearly is willing to do anything necessary to help the team.
As for relievers, Friedman routinely has added under-the-radar types — Tony Watson, Dylan Floro, Adam Kolarek, Chris Martin — who delivered excellent performances as Dodgers. Yes, the price for Watson included Oneil Cruz, but few in the game thought a 6-foot-7 shortstop could succeed, and Watson was brilliant in the 2017 postseason, with a combined six scoreless innings in the NLCS and World Series.
The odds of Friedman meeting the A’s price for Mason Miller, who missed nearly four months last season with a UCL sprain in his right elbow, would appear slim. But the Dodgers will get someone. They always do. And if starting pitchers Bobby Miller, Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May return from injuries, it will give the team more options.
For $1.4 billion, you would think the Dodgers had covered it all. Alas, it was never going to be that simple.
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(Top photo of Mark Walter, left, and Andrew Friedman, right, introducing Shohei Ohtani after he signed with the Dodgers: Rob Leiter / MLB Photos via Getty Images)